SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

The best known of them is the Nativity hymn of " / paryenou ". The last paper was presented by Dr. Adeeb Makar about the translation methodology of Greek-loan words into English. The main argument that he presented was that the English translation should carry terms that are in-use in English. He rejected completely the use of such terms like Theotokos and Pantokrator in the translation. According to Dr. Makar, Mother of God and Almighty are the more appropriate terms to be used. Disagreements with this proposal was clearly visible among some of the attendees but time limitation severely limited the discussion. g. Coptic Monasticism: Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian was the sole contributor of the two presentations related to this field. His first one dealt with the frequently mentioned name of "Ama Sibylla" in monastic settlement in Saqqara and also further south at Bawit. He presented the argument that this name may no be that of a historical nun in Egypt but rather drawn from the Old Testament Apocryphal book of Enoch. There, Sibylla was portrayed as Enoch's sister. The 'may' in this argument indicated that this subject awaits more research which can be swayed either way with more archeological and textual discoveries. The other paper was a slide presentation of the Red Sea monasteries of St. Antony and St. Paul (Bula). It was based on a visit that Dr. Vivian made to these ancient strongholds of Coptic Monasticism during the period of March 29-April 5, 1998. This contemplative presentation tried to take the audience into the interior where monasticism found roots. The slides also contained very important scenes of the newly restored wall paintings of the ancient St. Antony Church in the monastery. For the majority of the audience, these stunning images were never viewed before. Dr. Vivian in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Bolman and Dr. Gawdat Gabra, is working on a book about these wall paintings.

Athanasius of Alexandria to substantiate his own arguments. This practice gives a very strong example of the authority of the Church Fathers as exercised within the Church. It provide us with the proper model to use in making ecclesiastical arguments at the present or in the future. The last paper in this category was presented by our other scholarship recipient, Mr. Maged S. Mikhail of UCLA. His presentation dealt with St. Peter position in the Coptic Church tradition. His survey showed a marked change in the perception of him after the turn of the century. Which came as result of the non-orthodox missionary work that was being done in Egypt at the time. Up until then, he was accorded a high degree of honor which became rather marginalized during this century. Such honor was to him as person and not a founder of the Church in Rome. Bishop Serapion made extensive comments on clarify this last point. More survey of Coptic literature is still needed to back up the arguments presented. f. Coptic Liturgy: Three papers were presented in this field. The first was presented by Mr. Shereif Sorial of the Coptic Center Staff. He gave an update on his research into the development history of the Coptic Annual Psalmodia. He introduced the Commemoration section of the Psalmodia as a good indicator of the date and provenance of the manuscripts. Due to the small number of accessible manuscripts of the Annual Psalmodia outside of Egypt, he expanded his critical apparatus to include the more abundant manuscripts of the Kiahk Psalmodia for the purpose of his investigation. This work is still in the preliminary stages. The second paper was communicated by Dr. Y. N. Youssef concerning a Syrian-born Byzantine poet by the name of Romanos Melodus and his compositions that survived in the Coptic Church. In this brief paper, which was read by Mr. Ramses Wassif, the author gives a quick historical look at Romanos (early VI century AD) and then continues to establish him as the author of some of the Greek hymns that are still in use in the Coptic Church.

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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