SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

believe that the variant remained for the following reasons. First the meaning of the two words ( bwk & vwt [ pwt ] ) as can be observed from Dr. Crum's A Coptic Dictionary , in some instances, is fairly close, thus we have two words which may very well have sounded very much alike and had similar meanings. This leads to the second point, that in the final out-come the verse still retains the overall message; i.e. many disciples left Christ. There is no fundamental change in the meaning of the verse. If anything, the variant made the verse more dramatic, which given its context, does probably aid in depicting the actual events. Thirdly, we must assume that those who knew of the existence of the variant were those familiar with the scriptures in both dialects. Such individuals were undoubtedly few. Most people could not read, and those who could, it is safe to say, did not have access to, nor cared to read and memorize the Scriptures in both dialects. Thus, once overlooked, or allowed to remain by a minority of Copts, the Bohairic speaking majority who used the actual texts were not really aware of the existence of the variant at all.

in the word would be placed upon the ' w ' , with relatively little or no stress on the last letter. Thus the two words in question were pronounced as "p w k" and "p w t." With such a heavy emphasis upon the ' w ', the last letter must have been obscured. Under these circumstance bwk probably evolved into vwt through the following digression; bwk- pwk-pwt-vwt . If this is true, it would support the notion that the Bodmer Papyrus is actually an independent translation from the Sahidic version, and not the base text used for the majority of Bohairic manuscripts (otherwise all Bohairic Mss. would have se instead of vwt ). Thus we have at least two traditions of Bohairic Biblical Mss., one following the Bodmer version, and the other, which became the norm, that which contains the variant and is commonly believed to be an independent translation from the Greek. But how can we account for the maintenance of a variant version over the more accurate rendering found in the Bodmer text? For even without actual comparison to the Bodmer text, bwk should have been relayed as se in Bohairic. I

THE HOROLOGION (AGBEYA) OF THE COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH (2) (by John Rizk)

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter According to St. Pachomius, they consisted probably the origin of the office of Compline . According to Palladius' Historia Lausica, ch. XXXII , Day , Dusk , and Night were each comprised of 12 prayers, while the Third Hour had only three prayers. The Bohairic Offices John Cassian wrote that Vespers was the - Day (also Dawn ) - Third Hour - Dusk (also Vespers ) - Night (implied by texts as Midnight ) From the Regula of St. Jerome , it is apparent that monks were in the habit of reassembling before sleeping to recite six prayers; these prayers were only public office found during the day in the Monasteries of Scete and Nitria, while the prayers of Nocturns were at night. Both of these offices The following is a continuation on the subject of the Horologion which appeared in the previous issue (vol.1, no.2). Thus far, three main topics have been discussed: The Seven Canonical Hours, The Prayer of the Veil, and The Structure of the Agbeya. This article deals with the history and original usage of the Horologion, as outlined in Dr. O.H.E. Burmester's, "The Canonical Hours of the Coptic Church". (Orientalia Christiana Periodica, v.2, pp. 78-100.) The Sahidic Offices of four daily offices:

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