Copto-Arabic Synaxarion
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Copto-Arabic literature is the literature of the
Copts Copts (; ) are a Christians, Christian ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptians, Egyptian population, des ...
written in
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
. It is distinct from
Coptic literature Coptic literature is the body of writings in the Coptic language of Egypt, the last stage of the indigenous Egyptian language. It is written in the Coptic alphabet. The study of the Coptic language and literature is called Coptology. Definition ...
, which is literature written in the
Coptic language Coptic () is a dormant language, dormant Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language. It is a group of closely related Egyptian dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Ancient Egyptian language, Egyptian language, and histori ...
. Copto-Arabic literature began in the 10th century, had its golden age in the 13th and declined in the late medieval and early modern period before experiencing a revival in the 19th century.


History

Arabic was introduced to Egypt after the Arab conquest in 641. Coptic was used alongside Arabic in the administration of the country and some bilingual documents were produced in the 7th century. In 705, however, Arabic became the sole official language for administrative purposes. It gradually replaced Coptic as both the spoken and literary language of the Copts in a process that took several centuries. This process was much slower in Egypt than in Syria and Palestine, where the populace spoke
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
, a language much closer to Arabic. Palestinian Christian writing in Arabic precedes Egyptian by two centuries. There is little evidence of Copto-Arabic writing prior to the 10th century.


Origins

The first Copto-Arabic authors are the Melkite patriarch Eutychius (d. 940) and the
Coptic Orthodox The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...
bishop Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d. 987). Eutychius wrote a
universal history Universal history may refer to: * Universal history (genre), a literary genre **''Jami' al-tawarikh'', 14th-century work of literature and history, produced by the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia ** Universal History (Sale et al), ''Universal History'' ...
down to the caliphate of al-Rāḍī (934–940). This work was later continued by Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṭākī. Eutychius also wrote an apologetic treatise defending the Melkite faith against both Coptic Orthodoxy and Islam, entitled ''Kitāb al-jadal bayn al-mukhālif wa-l-Naṣrānī''. Sāwīrus wrote a refutation of Eutychius treaty from an Orthodox perspective. He wrote at least 38 identifiable works in Arabic, mostly on Christian matters but also on psychology, medicine and Arabic proverbs. He is the most important early figure in Copto-Arabic literature. Sāwīrus's friend and contemporary, Būluṣ ibn Rajāʾ, a convert from Islam, wrote in Arabic a critique of his old faith, the '' Kitāb al-wāḍiḥ bi-l-ḥaqq'', that was later translated into
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and had a major influence in the West.


Golden age

By the late 11th century, Arabic was beginning to supersede Coptic and there was a clear decline in the knowledge of Coptic among Egyptian Christians. The '' Confession of the Fathers'' was compiled around 1078 in Arabic from Coptic sources. A Copto-Arabic translation movement flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries under the
Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...
. Under the
Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ori ...
in the early 13th century, Copto-Arabic experienced a renaissance. This was spearheaded by four prominent brothers, the Awlād al-ʿAssāl. One of the products of this period was a new translation of the New Testament into Arabic based on the original Greek, Coptic translations and Syriac translations. The brothers al-ʿAssāl also wrote in defence of the literary merit of the New Testament and produced a bilingual Coptic–Arabic dictionary and a Coptic grammar in Arabic. They developed their own "Asʿadī" style of handwriting. Copto-Arabic historiography also experienced a rebirth under the late Ayyubids. The major work was begun by al-Makīn Jirjis ibn al-ʿAmīd and continued in the
Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...
period by al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Abi ʾl-Faḍāʾil. The "peak of the golden age" was reached in the writings of
Ibn Kabar Ibn Kabar (''Shams al-Riʾāsa Abū al-Barakāt ibn Kabar'', d. 1324) was a Coptic Christian author of an ecclesiastical encyclopedia known as ''Mișbâḥ al-ẓulma''. He was secretary to the Mamluk minister Baybars al-Manșûrî, presumably ed ...
, who died in 1324. The first Arabic translations of hymns and other liturgical texts from Coptic probably took place in the 13th or 14th century. These were necessitated by the decline in the use of Coptic among the people. Coptic texts, however, remained the norm in the monasteries.


Decline and revival

The encyclopaedic work of Ibn Sibāʿ () on the offices and traditions of the Coptic church marks the start of a decline of Copto-Arabic writing. The nadir of Copto-Arabic corresponds to that of Egyptian Islamic culture under the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
from 1518 to 1798. It was Pope Cyril IV (d. 1861) who reformed Copto-Arabic writing by establishing schools. In the early 20th century, there were two Coptic newspapers, ''al-Waṭan'' and ''Miṣr''. There was a flowering of modern Coptic literature in Arabic following the assassination of the Prime Minister
Boutros Ghali Boutros Ghali (12 May 1846 – 21 February 1910; , ; styled Boutros Ghali Bey later Boutros Ghali Pasha) was an Egyptian politician, who served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1908 to 1910. Early life Boutros Ghali was born on 12 May 1846 t ...
in 1910 and the Congress of Asyūṭ in 1911. This was a period which saw unity of purpose between Coptic and Muslim Egyptians against the British regime, culminating in the
Egyptian Revolution of 1919 The Egyptian revolution of 1919 (, ''Thawra 1919'') was a nation-wide revolution in the Sultanate of Egypt against British occupation which lasted from November 1918 to July 1919. Occurring right after the end of World War I, the revolution ...
.


Genres


Apocalyptic

Several Coptic-language apocalypses were later translated into Arabic. These include the '' Apocalypse of Pseudo-Athanasius'', '' Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun'', '' Letter of Pseudo-Pisentius'' and ''
Visions of Shenute Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
''. There were also apocalyptic texts composed in Arabic. Copto-Arabic apocalyptic was usually
pseudonymous A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...
served to allow criticism of Islamic authorities from the safety of (feigned) temporal distance. It incorporated the legend of the
Last Roman Emperor Last Roman Emperor, also known as Last World Emperor or Emperor of the Last Days, is a figure of medieval European legend, which developed as an aspect of Christian eschatology. The legend predicts that in the end times, a last emperor would app ...
, but always portrayed the Coptic church was triumphant over the
Chalcedonian Chalcedonian Christianity is the branches of Christianity that accept and uphold theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, held in AD 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christological Definitio ...
.


Canon law

Ibn al-Rāhib Abū Shākir ibn al-Rāhib (c. 1205 – c. 1295) was a Copts, Coptic polymath and encyclopaedist from the golden age of Christian literature in Arabic. He is a "towering figure" in Coptic linguistics and made important contributions to Coptic histor ...
and Pope Cyril III (d. 1243) both wrote works on canon law. In addition, at least six Coptic
nomocanon A nomocanon (, ; from the Greek 'law' and 'a rule') is a collection of ecclesiastical law, consisting of the elements from both the civil law and the canon law. Nomocanons form part of the canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches (through th ...
s were written in Arabic. Only five these are preserved today, one by Pope Gabriel II (d. 1145) being lost. The 13th-century nomocanon of al-Ṣafī ibn al-ʿAssāl forms the basis of the
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
n ''
Fetha Nagast The Fetha Negest () is a theocratic legal code compiled around 1240 by the Coptic Egyptian Christian writer Abu'l-Fada'il ibn al-Assal in Arabic. It was later translated into Ge'ez in Ethiopia in the 15th century and expanded upon with numerous ...
''. (in the PDF).


Catechesis

There is a sequence of catechetical texts in Arabic from the 10th or 11th century through the 13th. The first is the '' Kitāb al-īḍāḥ'', written in a straightforward style. Its preface notes how Islamic terminology was becoming better known in Christian circles than traditional Christians terminology. Next in sequence is the anonymous ''
Kitāb al-muʿallim wa-l-tilmīdh Kitab (, ''kitāb''), also transcribed as kitaab, is the Arabic word for "script" or "book" and may refer to: * ''Kitaab'', a 1977 Indian Hindi-language film * ''Kithaab'' (also ''Kitab''), a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language play * ''Kitab'', the R ...
'', which is divided into ten questions. It contains a distinct Copto-Arabic version of the
Jesus Prayer The Jesus Prayer, also known as The Prayer, is a short formulaic prayer and is especially esteemed and advocated in Eastern Christianity and Catholicism. There are multiple versions of this prayer, however the most widely used version is as follo ...
: "My Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. My Lord Jesus, help me. My Lord Jesus, I praise and worship you." Two similarly titled works followed, one in eight questions by Marqus ibn al-Qunbar and one in twenty-two chapters by the future Cyril III.


Coptic linguistics

The first Coptic grammars were written in Arabic in the 13th century. There was no prior history of grammatical writing in Coptic or in earlier Egyptian. Copto-Arabic grammatical writing was inspired entirely by the existing Arabic linguistic tradition practised among Muslims. Coptic
lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretical le ...
in Arabic originates around the same time as grammar, but it has antecedents in Coptic and Greek going back to
late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
. One 13th-century Copto-Arabic lexicographical treatise, ''al-Sullam al-ḥāwī'' ("The Comprehensive Ladder"), contains as an appendix an
Arabic–Old French glossary An Arabic–Old French glossary (or phrase book) occupies the final thirteen pages of the 16th-century manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 43, where it functions as an appendix to an Arabic treatise on Coptic lexicography e ...
with the French in Coptic script.


Hagiography

Many early Coptic saints' lives were translated into Arabic. Many new Arabic lives were also written. The '' Copto-Arabic Synaxarion'' is a collection of short biographies of saints, especially martyrs, perhaps first collected in the early 13th century, but attaining a final form only in the 14th. It is a
synaxarion Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; , from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of '' synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; ; Ge'ez: ሲናክሳሪየም(ስንክ ...
, the biographies intended to be read as part of the service of any given day.


Historiography

The annals of Eutychius are the first work of Arabic Egyptian historiography. The continuation of Yaḥyā may have been started in Egypt, but was finished in 10334 in Syria. Yaḥyā also composed a work of
computus As a moveable feast, the date of Easter is determined in each year through a calculation known as – often simply ''Computus'' – or as paschalion particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after th ...
, known through quotation by Ibn al-Rāhib. Two early works of Coptic-language historiography were translated into Arabic.
John of Nikiu John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
's chronicle had little influence. Both the Coptic and Arabic versions are lost; only an Ethiopic version survives. Much more influential was the '' Taʾrīkh baṭārikat al-Iskandariyya l-Qibṭ'', a series of biographies of the Coptic Orthodox patriarchs. The Arabic translation was undertaken in the late 11th century by Mawhūb ibn Manṣūr ibn Mufarrij. It was subsequently continued with original, short biographical notices in Arabic. In the late 12th century, Abū al-Makārim began a guidebook on the churches and monasteries of Egypt. It was expanded in the early 13th century with the addition of numerous historical notices into the '' History of the Churches and Monasteries of Egypt''. Also from the 13th century is a lost universal history ending in 1217–1218 by a certain Bishop Abrīm. This might be the same work as the ''Tārīkh li-baʿḍ al-Ṣaʿīdiyyīn'' mentioned by Ibn al-Rāhib.


Poetry

Copto-Arabic poetry is known from as early as the 13th century. The early 20th century saw a surge in production, but there are no Coptic poets in Arabic comparable to the best Egyptian Muslim poets.


Theology and philosophy

Copto-Arabic theology prior to the 13th century was primarily didactic, pastoral and apologetico-polemic (directed at either other Christian denominations or Islam). In the 13th century there was a turn towards a more systematic, even encyclopaedic, approach based in logic and philosophy and heavily influenced by Islamic ''
kalām ''Ilm al-kalam'' or ''ilm al-lahut'', often shortened to ''kalam'', is the scholastic, speculative, or rational study of Islamic theology ('' aqida''). It can also be defined as the science that studies the fundamental doctrines of Islamic fai ...
''. Theologians of this period produced works very similar in style to the ''
summa Summa and its diminutive summula (plural ''summae'' and ''summulae'', respectively) was a medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin, born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe. In its simplest sense, they might ...
e'' being produced at the same time in the
Latin West Greek East and Latin West are terms used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world and of medieval Christendom, specifically the eastern regions where Greek was the ''lingua franca'' (Greece, Anatolia, the southern Balkans, t ...
. (in the PDF). The most prominent theologians of the Copto-Arabic renaissance were al-Ṣafī ibn al-ʿAssāl, al-Muʾtaman ibn al-ʿAssāl,
Ibn al-Rāhib Abū Shākir ibn al-Rāhib (c. 1205 – c. 1295) was a Copts, Coptic polymath and encyclopaedist from the golden age of Christian literature in Arabic. He is a "towering figure" in Coptic linguistics and made important contributions to Coptic histor ...
,
Ibn Kabar Ibn Kabar (''Shams al-Riʾāsa Abū al-Barakāt ibn Kabar'', d. 1324) was a Coptic Christian author of an ecclesiastical encyclopedia known as ''Mișbâḥ al-ẓulma''. He was secretary to the Mamluk minister Baybars al-Manșûrî, presumably ed ...
, al-Makīn Jirjis ibn al-ʿAmīd and Yūḥannā ibn Sabbāʿ.


Allography

William Worrell argues that Coptic went through three stages in its contact with Arabic. First, it borrowed the odd Arabic word. Second, while Coptic was still a living language, some texts were written in Arabic but in
Coptic script The Coptic alphabet is the Writing system, script used for writing the Coptic language, the most recent development of Egyptian language, Egyptian. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the uncial Greek alphabet, augmented by letters borrowed fro ...
(a practice known as
allography In graphemics and typography, the term allograph is used of a glyph that is a design variant of a letter or other grapheme, such as a letter, a number, an ideograph, a punctuation mark or other typographic symbol. In graphemics, an obvious exam ...
). Finally, after having been completely supplanted as the spoken language by Arabic, Coptic was rendered as needed in
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...
. There is a fragmentary 13th-century manuscript in Arabic in Coptic script containing some of the ''
Sayings of the Desert Fathers A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows: * ...
''. It provides valuable information about the vernacular pronunciation of Arabic in Egypt at that time. The same practice in the case of
Syriac script The Syriac alphabet ( ) is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language since the 1st century. It is one of the Semitic languages, Semitic abjads descending from the Aramaic alphabet through the Palmyrene alphabet, and shares sim ...
is known as ''
Garshuni Garshuni or Karshuni (Syriac alphabet: , Arabic alphabet: ) are Arabic writings using the Syriac alphabet. The word "Garshuni", derived from the word "grasha" which literally translates as "pulling", was used by George Kiraz to coin the term " gar ...
''. The Copto-Arabic ''Sayings'' was probably created by one who spoke Arabic but was either educated in and more comfortable writing in Coptic or else saw Coptic script as the prestige written form for a religious work. Medieval Arabic blockprinting produced some examples of amulets with Coptic lettering of Arabic text.


List of writers

*
Eutychius of Alexandria Eutychius of Alexandria (Arabic: ''Sa'id ibn Batriq'' or ''Bitriq''; 10 September 877 – 12 May 940) was the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria. He is known for being one of the first Christian Egyptian writers to use the Arabic language. His writi ...
* Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ * Būluṣ ibn Rajāʾ * Mawhūb ibn Manṣūr ibn Mufarrij al-Iskandarānī * Ibn al-Qulzumī * Mark III of Alexandria * Abu Ṣāliḥ Yuʾannīs * Ibn Mammātī * Abū al-Makārim * Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Armanī * Maʿānī Abi ʾl-Makārim ibn Barakāt * Marqus ibn al-Qunbar * Cyril III of Alexandria * al-Asʿad ibn al-ʿAssāl * al-Muʾtaman ibn al-ʿAssāl * al-Ṣafī ibn al-ʿAssāl *
al-Makīn Jirjis ibn al-ʿAmīd the Elder Jirjis al-Makīn (; 1206–after 1280, maybe 1293), known by his ''nasab'' Ibn al-ʿAmīd (), was a Coptic Christian historian who wrote in Arabic. His name is sometimes anglicised as George Elmacin (). Life Several details about his ancestors an ...
* al-Makīn Jirjis ibn al-ʿAmīd the Younger * al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Abi ʾl-Faḍāʾil * Būlus al-Būshī *
Ibn al-Rāhib Abū Shākir ibn al-Rāhib (c. 1205 – c. 1295) was a Copts, Coptic polymath and encyclopaedist from the golden age of Christian literature in Arabic. He is a "towering figure" in Coptic linguistics and made important contributions to Coptic histor ...
*
Ibn Kabar Ibn Kabar (''Shams al-Riʾāsa Abū al-Barakāt ibn Kabar'', d. 1324) was a Coptic Christian author of an ecclesiastical encyclopedia known as ''Mișbâḥ al-ẓulma''. He was secretary to the Mamluk minister Baybars al-Manșûrî, presumably ed ...
* Yūḥannā ibn Sabbāʿ * Ibn Sibāʿ * Yūsāb of Fuwwa * Athanasius of Qus * Cyril IV of Alexandria *
'Abd al-Masīḥ Ṣalīb al-Masū'dī Abd al-Masih Salib al-Mas'udi (1848–1935) was an Egyptian monk and author. Biography ''ʿ''Abd al-Masīḥ Ṣalīb al-Masū''ʿ''dī was ordained a monk by his uncle, ''ʿ''Abd al-Masīḥ al-Kabīr, in 1874. He served at the Paromeos Monast ...
*
Ḥabīb Jirjis Archdeacon Habib Qozman Mankarious Girgis ( ; 1876 – 21 August 1951) or simply Saint Habib Girgis, was a modern-day dean of the Catechetical School of Alexandria. He was the first student for the modern-day Theological School, and was thu ...
* Ya'qub Nakhla Rufayla


List of works


Anonymous works

*
Arabic–Old French glossary An Arabic–Old French glossary (or phrase book) occupies the final thirteen pages of the 16th-century manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 43, where it functions as an appendix to an Arabic treatise on Coptic lexicography e ...
* Copto-Arabic Sibylline prophecy * Copto-Arabic synaxarion *'' Chronicon orientale'' *'' Kitāb al-īḍāḥ'' *''
Kitāb al-muʿallim wa-l-tilmīdh Kitab (, ''kitāb''), also transcribed as kitaab, is the Arabic word for "script" or "book" and may refer to: * ''Kitaab'', a 1977 Indian Hindi-language film * ''Kithaab'' (also ''Kitab''), a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language play * ''Kitab'', the R ...
'' *''
Kebra Nagast The Kebra Nagast (, ), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic of Ethiopia, written in Geʽez by the nebure id Ishaq of Aksum. In its existing form, the text is at least 700 years old and purports to trace the origins of the ...
'' *'' History of the Churches and Monasteries of Egypt''


Translations from Coptic

*'' Apocalypse of Pseudo-Athanasius'' *'' Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun'' *'' Apocalypse of Shenute'' *'' Arabic Homily of Pseudo-Theophilus of Alexandria''


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend


External links


International Copto-Arabic Historiography Project (ICAHP)Vat. copt. 9
an illuminated Coptic–Arabic gospels Fatimid literature