SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

was deposited in the monastery library. Its value then would be its rare testimony to a liturgical cycle in the monastery prior to the 9th century. Further research is still needed to place this codex in its proper place in the development history of the Lectionary System in the Coptic Church. Its

travel in the area as well as the burying of the monastery manuscripts may also signal significant development in the History of Christianity in the Fayoum. possibly in the beginning of the Mamluk period which may have been the time of its ruin.

Notes: 1. The current Lectionary System of the Coptic Church is divided up primarily into five books: Annual Cycle for Days, covering the immovable feasts and commemorations during the Coptic Year; Annual Cycle for Sundays, covering the Sunday readings during non-Lent and non-Paschaltide period during the Coptic Year, Lent, covering the days and Sundays readings from the Preparation Sunday preceding Lent to Lazarus Saturday; Pascha, covering the readings from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday; and Paschaltide, covering the readings from the second day after Resurrection Sunday to the Feast of the Pentecost. 2. The best published research on the Annual Cycle of the Lectionary System is Fr. Ugo Zannetti, Les Lectionnaires Coptes Annuels Bass-Egypte . Louvain, 1985. 3. T.C. Petersen, Coptic Bindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library , completed in 1948, an unpublished manuscript. One copy each is kept at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York and at the Institute for Christian Oriental Research of the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. 4. For a more detailed description of the Codex, consult Prof. Leo Depudt's Catalogue of Coptic Manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library , Louvain 1993, Catalog No. 51, pp. 69-81. 5. Hyvernat, Henri. Bibliothecae Pierpont Morgan Codices Photographice Expressi , Rome 1922.

the Making of the Electronic Edition of the Coptic Encyclopedia (by Hany N. Takla)

benefited from it. Especially left out were the educated Copts, young and old who predominantly had English as their first or second language of choice. The difficulties encountered in accessing such studies was for three main reasons. The first is the many languages, other than English, they were written in, such as German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Arabic, and even Hebrew. The Second reason is the very technical nature in which they were composed in and their inherent reliance on each other. Third and most critical is their scarce availability or rather rarity. The result was a small minority enjoying these treasures among themselves with the majority left out of the learning process. Prof. Aziz S. Atiya, then of the University of Utah, being a member of the majority as well as being included in the elite minority of researchers in the field, decided to rectify the situation with the

Introduction: Many disciplines in scholarly studies have been blessed at one time or another with a single reference work to represent it. One that would give the general public and/or the scholars in such discipline the opportunity to witness the state of research in that subject. Some disciplines have had the fortune of having many editions in multiple languages. Coptic Studies on the other hand did not enjoy such a fortune. The fruits of this field was enjoyed by a small number of scholars who published and communicated within a small circle. A circle that only included specialists and their dedicated students. With the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Coptic Codices in the second half of the 20 th century, the picture dramatically changed. This collection now attracted scholars and students from many disciplines to this exclusive field. This however enlarged the scholarly circle but did not help in introducing this fascinating field to the wider educated masses outside academia that would have

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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