SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

other aspects related to the formation of this organization. ----------------------- Title: History of the Coptic Church in Southern California (Project Description and Progress) Presenter: Dr. Elhamy F. Khalil , ( San Dimas, CA ) I. Purpose: To preserve the history of the evolution of the Coptic community including Church acquisitions. II. Method: Collecting information and documentation of events from 1963 to 1995. This will include: 1. Interviewing of persons involved at different periods. 2. Collecting pictures and video over time. 3. Reviewing documents, minutes of meetings, etc. of different churches, with applicable permissions. 4. Review literature such as newspapers and other publications pertinent to the above, both from sources in Egypt and USA. III. Product: 1. Historical writing will be neutral. Where there are opposite point of views, all will be recorded. 2. There will be no criticism, glorification, or unnecessary commentary on such history. This aspect of the work will be left to later writers, if specific aspects are to be addressed. IV. Time Element: The project is estimated to last between three and five years. ----------------------- Title: St. Shenouda's Treatise "I am Amazed" Presenter: Mr. Mark R. Moussa (Washington, DC.) The focus of the present paper is to provide a brief introduction to the Shenoutean treatise I Am Amazed , one of the better though not wholly preserved treatises by the famous abbot of the White Monastery. As we shall see, it is a clear

representation of St. Shenoute’s social and doctrinal concerns during the early to mid-fifth century in Upper Egypt. Considering the heretical issues that he was dealing with in his sermon – the use of “apocryphal” writings, subordination of the Son of God, the correct use of the Scriptures, and the presence of wandering “teachers” in his region – St. Shenoute was obliged to use appropriate Athanasian writings to buttress his own polemic. We find St. Shenoute quoting directly and implicitly from Athanasius’ 39th Festal Letter of 367 AD, Orationes contra Arionos I , and De Synodis . The importance of I Am Amazed lies in the fact that it manifests the abbot’s own keen awareness of the same social and doctrinal conflicts that had persisted since th dates of St. Athanasius’ patriarchate. And thus St. Shenoute’s work highlights a dependence on patristic texts and their methods of argumentation from an earlier period. For instance, in opposition to subordinationist teachings, Shenoute was devoted to scripturally proving the divinity of Christ. It is clear from the treatise and Shenoute’s line of thought that his prolonged exposition on the creation of the world, the Eucharist, and the resurrection of the dead would be in vain if the divinity of Christ was not an accepted premise. For Shenoute, the presence of Athanasius in his own arguments provides authority, vigor and a source of orthodoxy in a monastic region ridden with doctrinal diversity. ----------------------- Title: The Position of St. Peter the Apostle in Coptic Orthodox Tradition Presenter: Maged S. A. Mikhail (Covina, CA) The current position of St. Peter the Apostle in the Coptic Orthodox Church must be viewed against two backdrops. First, it has to be viewed as one of the various Eastern Orthodox responses vis-à-vis Roman (Papal) claims of authority. Second, the surprisingly late date at which the Coptic response was articulated highlights that it was a result of the Church’s encounter with “modernity”; which

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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