SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

the 16th to the 19th centuries. The original edition of this text by Renaudot in 1716 only used a single 14th century manuscript, Paris Gr. 325. The conclusion of the presenter is that the Egyptian text as well as the Byzantine text of this liturgy are authored by St. Basil, on the basis of external as well as internal evidence. He also showed that the longer, later Byzantine text is an elaboration of the older, shorter Egyptian text. Funk, W-P (Canada). Cleft Sentenses with and without pe in Bohairic. This very interesting paper dealing with the use of the copula pe in Bohairic texts. Those who studied both Bohairic and Sahidic have experienced the seemingly less rigid usage in Bohairic than Sahidic in use with personal pronouns. The presenter, one of the top four Coptic language scholars in world now, attempted to specify the patterns of these cleft sentences using pe and grouping such patterns for three specific groups of Bohairic literary manuscripts: Old Bohairic (4th-5th centuries), Biblical Bohairic (Old and New Testament), and Nitrian Bohairic (mainly those of St. Macarius monastery, kept in the Vatican Apostolic Library). Prof. Shisha- Halevy of Jerusalem has been in collaboration with the presenter on this subject for a number of years. It is very encouraging for Copts to see growing scholarily interest in Bohairic which is the basis of Modern Coptic in the Coptic Church. Gonis, N. (Great Britian). The Salaries of the Clerics in a Papyrus from Hermopolis . This paper deals with the difficult manuscripts of Documentary texts. This particular Greek text is assigned to the Umayyads rule in Egypt (7th-8th centuries). This text deals with the salaries of the clerics of a Hermolite church, including priests, deacons, and the doorkeeper. Such payment were specified in measures of Wheat. The presenter introduced this papyrus document and contrasted with other documents found in Egypt, dating from the 5th and 6th centuries. The most interesting feature of this document is the equal salaries set for both the priests and deacons of that church. This underlies the important role of the deacon in the church. A role that in modern times is still poorily

defined and compensated within the Coptic Church hierarchy! Lent, J. van (The Netherlands). Coptic Arabic Apocalypses Between Edification and Entertainment. This paper attempted to provide an overall picture of the literary tradition of Coptic- Arabic Apocalypses. Eight of these texts are identified by the author and they are: First and Second Apocalypse of Shenute, the Second and Third Apocalypse of Athanasius, the Apocalypse of Samuel, the Letter of Pisentius, th Fourteenth Vision of Daniel, and the Testament of Our Lord. Most of these texts are found only in Arabic with the Coptic original either lose or never existed. The presenter provided an outline of the development, characteristics, and contents of each of these works. He presented most of these literary works as ones intending "to lend meaning to traumatic events and situations, to call for moral reform, and to inspire hope and comfort through their promise of impending salvation". He further explained how one of them, the Fourteenth Vision of Daniel, may have been written more for entertainment than edifications. Many may tend to disagree with such judgment, on the ground that this text always formed a part of the Bohairic Book of Daniel for at least the past six centuries or more! Fr. Martyros el-Suriani (Egypt). The Youngest Layer of Plaster in the Church of St. Mary in El- Sourian Monastery, Wadi el-Natroun. The presenter introduced the work being done at the church to document the multiple layers of plaster found before they are removed to uncover the earlier wall paintings there. The bulk of the presentation dealt with Arabic inscriptions found on the youngest of these four layers. Among them, a certain cyrptographic system is found. A system that was employed in particular to hide some of the names of the mothers of those people that inscribed their names. The presenter was able to resolve the code used and coded many of these. During the discussion period, it was suggested that the cryptography of some of these names were due to their non-christian names. This was the only plausible explanation that would explain why some

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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