SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

Farewell to Coptic Leader Lola Atiya (1917-2002) Principal Investigator of Coptic Encyclopedia (by Dr. Saad Michael Saad)

charm, grace, and vibrancy she provides the university community as a speaker, research colleague, and friend.” The above statement is a good summary of such a great leader who promoted Coptology for about 60 years. When her husband championed the establishment of the Institute for Coptic Studies in Cairo, Egypt, in 1954 and was its first Dean, Lola volunteered to be there on regular basis supporting the scholarly, social and administrative activities. Then together in 1959 they established the Middle East Center at the University of Utah. Their work on the Coptic Encyclopedia spanned in earnest the years 1977- 1991. Lola’s work was for a nominal pay of one dollar per year. Lola Atiya’s devotion to Coptic and Middle Eastern studies arose out of her authentic and deep devotion to her Coptic Christian faith. Not surprising her last scholarly product was an annotated index in Arabic and English to the twelve-volume, tenth-century manuscript History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church by Saweris ibn al-Muqafa. This book is now awaiting publication in Cairo. When in 1996 I solicited her help in getting McMillan, the publisher of the Coptic Encyclopedia, to put it on CD-ROM, she was very happy the fruits of her labor would multiply by making the Encyclopedia more accessible to the Copts and Coptologists worldwide. Lola Atiya was born in Cairo, Egypt in November 6, 1917. Her father was Habib Hanna Messiha, a director at the Ministry of Finance. Her mother Katrina Saleeb Mankarious spoke Arabic, Coptic, Greek, and French. Lola married Aziz Atiya in 1941 when he was an assistant professor at Cairo University. The perfect couple provided the role model for a marriage with common purpose in public service.

Lola Atiya, the great soul who was instrumental in bringing the majestic Coptic Encyclopedia to completion, went to her heavenly home on 12 November 2002. True Distinguished Professor Aziz Soryal Atiya (1898-1988) was the soul who dreamed of the Encyclopedia and the brains that formulated its evolution. His faithful wife Lola Atiya, however, provided the wings which soared high carrying the soul and the brains of the Encyclopedia and brought the project to a grand finale in 1991. For after her husband’s passing, the University of Utah and the National Endowment for the Humanities appointed her Principal Investigator and entrusted her with the enormous task of completing the Encyclopedia project. At age 71, she did this despite some serious health problems. This outstanding achievement, among many others in Coptic culture and Middle Eastern Studies, was greatly appreciated by The University of Utah. Accordingly, the university awarded Lola Atiya an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 1994. The merits of the doctorate, as formally announced by the University of Utah Board of Trustees, were: “In consideration of her substantial contributions to scholarship in the completion of the world’s first Coptic Encyclopedia, of which her late husband, Dr. Aziz S. Atiya, was the chief editor and she the principal investigator; for the increased understanding of eastern Christianity and the Middle East her scholarship continues to make possible both here and around the world; for her efforts in helping to establish one of the world’s foremost Middle East library collections in the University’s Marriott Library; for such voluntary service as the restoration of the collection of papyri at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts; and for the

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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