SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

Ecclesiastical (Liturgical) Research and Coptic Youth Abroad (by Hany N. Takla)

Introduction: Proper research in Ecclesiastical subjects, especially liturgical matters, have been neglected by Copts in general and Coptic youth in particular. Those whose participation in church life is minimal tends to discount the importance of such work. On the other hand those who are actively engaged in church life fear that what they might find may derail their Ecclesiastical convictions. One does not care enough about it to study it and the other cares too much about it to dare to approach it from a research perspective. It is needless to say that both attitudes are unacceptable. I will attempt to introduce here a simple methodology to use in order to alleviate the fears of the latter group and hopefully entice the former to pursue such study. Pre-Qualification: Because of the special nature of this type of research, particular qualifications are needed in the person that will pursue it. The most important of these are as follows: 1. Good Christian and moral characters 2. Desire to serve the Church 3. Completion of at least one systematic Bohairic grammar course 4. Completion of specialized training in how to work with manuscripts (read, edit, collate, ...etc.) 5. Ability to write in good English is strongly recommended. 6. Knowledge of Arabic is preferable but not essential. 7. Any knowledge of the Greek language is helpful but not mandatory. 8. Knowledge of European languages such as German and French is desirable for advanced research The first five qualifications are essential; the other three can be taken care of using team-concept research.

Stages of Research: There are five distinct stages for performing any valid research, and they are as follows:

1. Project identification stage 2. Resource selection stage 3. Investigation stage 4. Evaluation and discussion stage 5. Conclusion stage

These stages or steps should be implemented in the order shown. Of course allowance needs to be made for revision of project objectives and the inclusion of new resources as they become available. 1. Project Identification Stage: Projects in this research category would more likely than not be geared toward direct applicability to liturgical services in the Coptic Church. They will either be macro-type research or micro-type research. Macro-type deals with overall evolution of liturgical services and texts. Micro-type usually will deal with the specific portions of these services or texts. 2. Resource Selection Stage: The intent of such research is to work with original manuscripts and other primary sources. Most of these will be available in microfilm-format. The researcher will prepare a list of all manuscripts that will be used in the investigation. Care should be taken in choosing items with varying dates and origins, whenever possible. These manuscripts will then be given an identification number or letter, forming what is known as the Critical Apparatus (CA) . A base text, against which these manuscripts will be compared, will be selected. This text should be the best printed edition used in the Church, or the most complete and legible manuscript available. In this field most texts have not been scientifically edited. Other notable printed editions should also be added to the CA , whenever possible. Finally an exhaustive bibliography on the subject matter will be compiled, including printed editions and studies.

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

-6-