SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

A- (in the Psali) the animals want to swallow the ship and the miracle is that the saint makes the sea calm. B- (in the Doxology) we have an additional detail about the fire which came out of the relics of the Saint and burnt these animals . C- (in the Miracle) we get a detailed description of the beasts. 2- For a linguistic comparison, we may notice that the Psali and the Doxology called these monsters animals, while the Miracle called them beasts. 3- From the liturgical aspect, it is worthy to mention that the last stanza of the Glorification underlined that there are thr e feasts of Saint Menas in his City Maryout. 14 It is known that in general some saints have two feasts only. 15 The synaxarium 16 of the Coptic Church, 17 as well as the Menologes, 18 and the Calendar of Abû al Barakat 19 mentioned only two feasts i.e. the 15 of Hathor (for his martyrdom) 20 and 15 of Baounah (for the consecration of his Church at Maryout). We can explain these traditions by this Schema. Conclusion: The study of these liturgical texts is important for several reasons: 1-It is unique text of the miracle of saint Menas in Bohairic. 2- It informs us about the feast in his pilgrimage centre. 21 3- It gives an explanation about the inscription and the bas relief on the ampullae. The doxology repeats the legend of the marine monsters which had the neck of a camel. It could be the explanation of the two animals drawn on the ampullae.

The first is called Adam: when hymns are sung on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. The name is taken from the first word of the first verse of the Theotokia for Monday " adam eti ewoi nemkaànàht " 'Adam was yet sorrowful of heart'. The Second way, for the rest of the week is called, Batos. Psali : comes from the Greek verb yallw v = to sing Saint Menas was one of the most popular saints in Antiquity. His centre of pilgrimage was called the " Lourdes of Antiquity ." His ampullae were found in several Mediterranean countries. 1 Saint Menas 2 is commemorated in several churches in the World. His martyrdom is preserved in Greek; Latin; Ethiopian, Armenian; Syrian and Arabic languages. 3 In Coptic tradition, we have Sahidic Coptic manuscripts from the collection of Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, 4 La Bilbliothèque Nationale de Paris 5 and the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology 6 as well as several Arabic manuscripts. 7 Unfortunately we do not have any Bohairic text, which could be first hand data. For this saint, we have his Greek glorification written by Romanus Melodus. 8 But in the Coptic tradition, we may consider the hymns provided by a Coptic doxology and a Psali 9 as unique. In fact, the Book of Glorifications 10 contains a Doxology, 11 in the Adam tune 12 in honour of Saint Menas which is the summary of a lost Bohairic text. The same event is commemorated in a Psali from a Coptic Manuscript from Saint Macarius Monastery and dated in XII century. 13

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter The comparison between theses three texts shows the development of the Miracle legend of Saint Menas.

This comparison is very useful for many reasons: 1- It provides us the development of the "Miracle- Legend" of the Martyr

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