SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

have been gathered in the monastery for heresiological purposes or perhaps they represented the texts used by the groups spreading "Origenistic-Gnosticizing" ideas. There is support for this view in a letter written to Saint Shenoute by the Patriarch Dioscorus: But since I have heard moreover that there are books and numerous treatises of the pest name Origines and other heretics in that convent (Parembole) and in the former temple of Shmin and elsewhere, let your Reverence inquire after them carefully and collect them and write their kathemas and send them to us. 12 In assembling the treatise Orlandi has entitled it in Latin "Contra Origenistas" and in Italian "Contro Gli Origenistas" 13 ; in English, I have translated this as, "Against the Origenists", since Saint Shenoute apparently wrote this work to combat the infiltration mentioned by Patriarch Dioscorus and by Tito Orlandi. In replying to these teachings Saint Shenoute offers us his own Christology and the role of Christ in his teachings. Apropos the Christology of Saint Shenoute On the basis of this treatise, "Against the Origenists" and several other sermons that have been translated and can be found in articles in Theological Journals I will briefly cover his Christology and the role of Christ in the Writings of Saint Shenoute in eight areas: 1. Christ as Redeemer 2. Christ as King, Victor, and Conqueror of Satan. 3. Christ as our Model 4. Christ as Divine (in response to the Arian controversy) 5. Saint Shenoute the Incarnation and Nestorius 6. The Theotokos 7. The Trinity 8. The Eucharist and Prayer The views of those Saint Shenoute deemed as protagonists of Gnosticism and Origenism, as they are referred to in "Against the Origenists", help highlight his Christological views in contradistinction to theirs.

connected with the body of the church but by a secret and narrow passage. 8 It appears that the library was situated in a secret place to protect it and its contents, a task that it accomplished for almost a thousand years. (Emmel, Idem) These manuscripts of Saint Shenoute, according to Mr. Takla were divided into four categories according to their purpose. There were writings directed against pagans and idolaters; there were writings on monastic observance and on morality; the third category dealt with doctrinal works aimed at heretics; finally there were miscellaneous works which established the historical background of Saint Shenoute's time. As the corpus is presently constituted these categories are found in two main sections: the Canons and the Discourses. 9 For a discussion on the Christology of Saint Shenoute, my main emphasis will be on one of his sermons in the Discourses, the title of the sermon in English taken from the opening line is I Am Amazed . The sermon, which according to Dr. Emmel is more of a treatise, was assembled from fragments from three codices and a folio from a fourth. Credit should be given here to Tito Orlandi, then from the University of Milan, who attributes the manuscripts authorship to Saint Shenoute and has translated the manuscript into Italian. Although some objections have been raised to its attribution to Saint Shenoute, Dr. Emmel finds no grounds for disputing its authorship. Tito Orlandi who details his work with the manuscripts in an article in the Harvard Theological Review 10 , explains that the aim of the work was: To oppose heretics and heretical opinions, and especially heretical books ( apokrypha as Shenoute call them) that have been introduced into the Christian community and indeed (as it appears) the monastery of Shenoute. 11 Orlandi in discussing the Nag Hammadi texts and their relationship to monasticism in Upper Egypt raises the hypothesis that these texts may

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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