SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

Prof. David Johnson, S.J.: Pope Timothy II Aelurus: His Life and His Importance for the Development of Christianity in Egypt Dr. Mark N. Swanson: “ Our Brother, the Monk Eustathius”: A Ninth-Century Syrian Orthodox theologian Known to Medieval Arabophone Copts Prof. Adel Sidarus: The Copto-Arabic Renaissance in the Middle Ages: Characteristics and Socio- Political Context. Dr. Youhanna N. Youssef: The Encomium of St. Philotheus Ascribed to Severus of Antioch Mr. Hany N. Takla: Sahidicism in the Current Edition of the Coptic Pascha Book Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian: The Virtues of Saint Macarius, The Manuscript, and Amelineau’s Text. Miss Nefertiti Takla: Healing and Salvation in Early Egyptian Christianity Copies will be send to all dues-paying members of the Society and those of St. Mark Foundation as well as Coptica subscribers, when ready. For non-members (or subscribers) this volume will be available for $10 plus shipping and handling. The second issue will publish the papers presented at the Wadi al-Natrun's Symposium, Feb. 2002. E-mail contact is: coptica@stshenouda.com. 10. The Society on The Internet: We are still at the same address, "http://www.stshenouda.com". Our traffic was approximately 40,000 hits per month on the average. Information about the new MiniConferences and the annual conference will be posted on the site. The Coptic Lessons Section will be revised soon to add limited pronunciation sounds. 11. Digitizing of Coptic Microfilms Project: Since September of 2001, the Society has been engaged in the digitizing of the contents of our Coptic Microfilm Library (CML). Through a service bureau, specializing in this work, we were able in a little more than 9 months to have nearly 160,000 images of our 35mm collection of Coptic Manuscripts done. This project has cost over $32,000 and produced about 58 CDs. These CD are arranged in a special Database format, viewable using a software called Alchemy, which allows for viewing, digital zooming, printing on 8-1/2x11 in. paper, and exporting to tiff-format images. This arrangement has greatly facilitated the search through these manuscripts as well as their use in instructions. Other advantages include the ease of cataloging of the manuscripts, portability of the material, raising the popularity of their use in research, and much more. The portability of the material is probability their greatest advantage, for we

were able to store most of these CDs on a 30-Gigabyte external drive, weighting a little more than a pound and attached to a laptop PC. The quality varies from that in the microfilm. Nonetheless they are good for the majority of the manuscripts filmed, especially the Bohairic biblical and liturgical manuscripts and the Arabic literary manuscripts. For other Coptic Dialect texts, which is the smaller part of the collection, the microfilms would still need to be consulted for accuracy. And for some manuscripts there is no substitute for viewing the original manuscripts in person. However for most of students and researchers, consulting the original is not an option and even the use of microfilm equipment is too cumbersome, inconvenient, and expensive. This makes these digitized material nothing less than heaven- sent. The Society will be placing a short list of the description of all these digitized manuscripts on our website. 12. St. Mark Foundation for Coptic History: Dr. Fawzy Estafanous of Cleveland, Ohio is continuing the colossal effort of organizing this new foundation for the detailed study of Coptic History (Church and people). Their proudest moment was the successful convening of the historical Wadi al-Natrun Symposium. They have issued a special edition of their Newsletter, Volume 4 - Easter 2002, about this momentous event. This 24-page elegant publication included a summary report about the Symposium along with all the reports published about it in the Church and the Egyptian press. Several colored and black and white pictures of the event are also included. Copies of this commemorative edition can be ordered from the Foundation or our Society for a nominal charge of $5 per copy. The Foundation is currently discussing with the Patriarchate the details for organizing a second symposium that will deal with the Christian monuments of the Fayoum Oasis, South of Cairo. This is scheduled for the winter of 2004. Dr. Gawdat Gabra is coordinating the scholarly issues pertaining to this symposium. During the Society's Annual Conference (see above), members of both organization will meet to discuss future collaborative projects. Comments, suggestions, and lifetime membership information can be directed to the following address: Dr. F. G. Estafanous

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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