SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

remembered him for it with respect and relayed it through Bishop Serapion during the funeral eulogy. In 1995, Deacon Yustos was elevated to the rank of Archdeacon by the Pope in one of his visits to the monastery. He continued to serve the monastery and act as stabilizing influence among the new novices and monks. His influence was very pronounced during the days when the monastery was facing its latest crisis. Only the deterioration of his health prevented him from frequenting the monastery as he would have loved. But as late as February of this year, he was contemplating spending longer periods of time there. He was encouraged by the miraculous departure of destructive elements that Introduction: Mr. Raphael is a Coptic immigrant, residing in the Chicago, IL. His intense interest in the Coptic language brought him in contact with many notable scholars in Egypt, Egyptian and non- Egyptians. One of these scholars was the famous Cypriot Coptologist O. H. E. Burmester, who encouraged and assisted him in gaining an understanding of the Greek as used in Coptic Liturgy. The result was his 1964, limited edition of a linguistic analysis of the Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil from the Prayer of Thanksgiving to Psalm 150, recited during communion. This edition also included very valuable appendices on the Coptic and Greek syntax as well as a set of Coptic Lessons. After he emigrated to the US in the late 1960s, he realized the need for making such work available in English to the new generations of Copts. His aim was to promote the proper understanding of the Coptic Liturgy which he referred to in the Introduction of the first English Edition. as "...the basic and the chief sacrament of the Christian belief." This came to fruition in 1994 with the reedition of his 1964 work with the exception of providing an English translation and excluding the Coptic Lessons section.

plagued the institution which he dedicated a quarter of century of his life to serve. However his latest sickness dashed such hope and eventually led to his departure from the land of misery to a place where he would be in the company of the true keeper of the monstery. Final Word: A lot more can be said about the character and accomplishments of this man. He left us many legacies, but the most prominent was his work in the monastery. The greatness of this legacy lies in the way it affected the lives of the old as well as the new generations in this country and deepened the roots of the Coptic Church outside of Egypt. It is worthy of mention that he developed all his work, using a Macintosh computer. This required that he learn not only how to use a computer but also to develop the fonts necessary to do the work. This monumental effort began a few years prior to his first English edition in 1994. Methodology of the Work: All Mr. Raphael's publications employ the same methodology, a definite positive attribute. It can be summarized as follows: 1. The text is arranged in three columns, from left to right: Arabic, Coptic, English. 2. The Arabic and Coptic text of the liturgical volumes are adopted from an Egyptian-based version of the Euchologion, even though no clear reference is listed. The English however, is a new translation by the author, based on the Coptic text. 3. Coptic text is hyphenated at points of grammatical division within a compound word. 4. Words, or parts of words, in the Coptic text is marked with a superscript number, which is required for the reader to know in order to find the grammatical analysis.

Coptic Language Analysis Books by Monir B. Raphael - Book Reviews (by Hany N. Takla)

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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