Coptica 15, 2016

14 Lois Farag

A PPENDIX The Arabic Text of the Theological Letter of Anba Yūsāb, Bishop of Jirjā and Akhmīm Manuscript Theology 5 Monastery of St. Macarius, Egypt

The appendix includes a semi-diplomatic edition of MS Manuscript Theol. 5 in the Monastery of St. Macarius. It is twenty pages long, 18 lines per page, with an average of 12 to 14 words per line. It is written in a clear, orderly, and neat handwriting. It was copied in AD 1840 ( AM 1556) with a colophon that indicates it belonged to Hegemon Michael, the head of the Monastery of Saint Macarius: ﺍﻻﺏ ﺍﻟﻣﻛﺭﻡ ﺃﺑﻳﻧﺎ ﺍﻟﻘﻣﺹ ﻣﻳﺧﺎﺋﻳﻝ ﺭﺋﻳﺱ ﺩﻳﺭ ﺃﺑﻭ ﻣﻘﺎﺭ . The colophon is at the end of the manuscript not at the end of the text. Hegemon Michael seems to have ordered a personal copy of the manuscript, which most probably was deposited in the monastery’s library after his death. The full stop punctuation in the manuscript, which I copied as is, does not follow any literary rule. The text has been “standardized” to help the monastic reader make a difficult theological text intelligible to the listener. This indicates that the letter was not ordered for the personal edification of Hegemon Michael but was copied with the main purpose of public delivery for the edification of monastery’s monks. It might have been read during traditional monastic educational opportunities such as monastic meetings or even during monastic meals. Page (176V) of the manuscript does not include any punctuation and was most probably copied from another manuscript. There are very few copies of this letter. According to the Coptic Encyclopedia there are two copies, one in the Coptic Patriarchate, Theology 138 , and another in the monastery of Saint Anthony, Theology 125 . 50F 51 I discovered one incomplete text at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary (al-Suryān), Theology 143 , and another at St Macarius’s Monastery, Theology 5 . 51F 52 It is no coincidence that the letter is found in these monastic venues and the patriarchal library. It is natural to find patriarchal correspondence deposited in the patriarchal library. Its presence in three monastic libraries highlights the theological value of this letter and its instructional use within monastic communities.

51 S. Khalil Samir, “Yusab,” Coptic Encyclopedia , 7: p. 2361. 52 I was unable to gain access to the Patriarchal library or the library of the Monastery of St. Anthony.