SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

contemporary Coptic-owned newspapers are doing in Egypt, specifically the weekly Watani, and elsewhere among the Copts in the United States. Coptic Literature and Patristics: There were three papers presented in this category and they were all included in the two morning sessions of Saturday. The first was by Miss Nardine Saad, titled: The Development of Mariology in the Coptic Church . In this paper the author discussed the history of the terms used to refer to the Virgin Mary in the Coptic Church, from the literature of its early fathers to the liturgical hymns in current use in the Church. She also pointed out the fact that the term Theotokos, used by St. Cyril the Great in Ephesus in AD 431 was in use by the Coptic, or Alexandrian, Church fathers long before. This survey conducted shows the need for more exhaustive work especially on the basis of the Coptic literature which is virtually unknown except to few. The second paper was by Dr. John Mckenna, titled: The relationship of Theology and Science in John Philoponos. This 6 th century Alexandrian theologian-scientist is virtually unknown to the Copts. He was nicknamed John the Grammarian or Youhanna al Nahawi. A name that Ibn al- Nadim told of him in his 9 th century work. Dr. Mckenna introduced John's major work, the Arbiter that contributed greatly to the development of Western scientific culture and also to the condemnation of his writing in the East in AD 680. His new concept of nature and creation out of nothing was a clear argument against the Aristotelian views of his time. Such revolutionary ideas helped Copernicus and Galileo to formulate their work, which form the basis of our knowledge of the physical world as it stands at present. The author was hopeful that the Orthodox Church would lift its anathema of his writings soon, which he sees hopeful signs of that at the present. It is clear that this theologian belonged to the Chalcedonian, or Melekite family of the Christians in Egypt. Because of its odds with our traditional Coptic Orthodox Church, we

fasts and how they were viewed differently by both communities. Based on the evidence presented, it became very clear that the Melekite Church did not accept what the Coptic Orthodox Church did. In fact the Melekites went as far as changing the dietary restrictions during that first week of Lent, just to be different. This mind- opening presentation is part of Deacon's Severus' monumental and long-awaited doctoral dissertation work on the Copts in the first few centuries of Post-Arabic Egypt. The fourth paper was by Mr. Ramses N. Wassif, titled: The Epact System. It dealt with the complex computational system used in the Coptic Church, primarily to calculate the date of the celebration of the Feast of Resurrection. This system is traditionally ascribed to St. Demetrius, the 12 th Pope of Alexandria. It started with an extensive introduction about history surrounding the determination of the celebration of this most important feast of Christianity in the East and the West. The later part of the presentation was centered on an 18 th century manuscript of this calculation system from an church in Bani Sueif (Upper Egypt). The study was made on a basis of an electronic copy of this text, housed at the Society's Center, courtesy of one of our colleagues. The presenter introduced the audience to a most fascinating calculation diagram from that manuscript that showed how this date is determined. This diagram is called al- Mera' al-`Assaliah , or the Assalian Mirror , attributed to one of Awlad al-Assal, the famous scholarly family of the 12-13 th century Egypt. An article about this diagram will be forthcoming in an upcoming issue of this Newsletter. Worthy of mention that the name of Pope Demetrius was never found in this entire 116-page manuscript. The fifth and last paper in this category was by Dr. Saad Michael Saad, titled The Burden of Coptic Journalism . In it he surveyed for the audience the history of Coptic Journalism over the past century. He in particular cited examples of milestone publications that in many cases broke the glass ceiling of religion as well as gender. He also emphasized the role that the

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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