SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

the first day of his detainment. A similar conversation occurred, with Abu-Shaker offering the possibility of a conditional pardon from the king. But St. John quietly persisted in his determination. As Abu-Shaker was leaving, he gave his guards some money to protect the saint. At that first night, he was also summoned by the king, may be due to a request by Abu-Shaker. There he was offered riches and safe haven out of the country where he can

freely practice Christianity. All this was contingent on him confessing publicly that he is a Moslem. This was also not acceptable to the Saint. So he was put back in jail for the remainder of the three days. On the morning of the fourth day, he was summoned before the king in the Marketplace. There he was to be tried for the sin of wanting to be a Christian again! (to be continued)

EXCERPTS FROM THE COPTIC MARTYRDOM OF ST. JOHN OF PHANIDJOIT (by Hany N. Takla)

The following are excerpts from the Coptic Martyrdom of St. John of Phanidjoit. A microfilm copy of the the original text is kept in the Society's "Coptic Microfilm Collection" (CML) under no. 857C. The Coptic text is a corrected one.

a. Preface:

(f.40r) ]marturi a iwann/c pimarturoc m beri pi e bol qen va nijwit qen t ,wra m pousin etafjokc e bol n cou4 m pi a bot pasonc qen pe hoou mp 5 qen ]ajp6 te nahraf mp ouro el,em/l p s/ri mp ouro elatel piperc/c araboc qen py ronoc m piban hijen nen c votou mv iaro n te ,/mi qen ouhir/n/ n te v] am/n. n te piagioc acswpi de qen y metouro n houymen p s/ri n iwc/v piouro ety/s e babulwn n te ,/mi nem ]parali a nem ]curi a nem niyws n te damackoc nem ]erbi ouoh paiouro oukudarit/c pe ouoh m perc/c n kadaxiar,/c n te v nah] n niagarinneoc efnatacyof qen pefnah] n niaraboc nem niicma/lit/c b. St. John's Conversion to Islam:

The martyrdom of Saint John, the new martyr, the one from Phanidjoit (El-Zaitoun) in the province of Poushin who has accomplished it on the 4th (day) of the month Pashons on Thursday at the sixth hour, before the king El-Kamel, the son of the king El- Adel the Persian-Arab on the throne of Piban upon the mouths of the River (i.e. Nile) of Egypt in peace of God Amen And it came to pass in the kingdom of Osman, the son of Joseph (Salah al-Din), the king who was appointed over Babylon of Egypt and the Sea Coast and Syria and the affairs of Damascus and Tierbi. And this king, he is a kurd and an esteemed Persian ruler of the faith of the Agarinnians, as he is (lit. will) converted in his faith of the Arabs and the Ishmaelites. And he lived namely an Upper Egyptian man from a village called Phanidjoit (El- Zaitoun) in the affairs of the province called Poushin, whose name is John, the son of Markos.

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter afswpi de n je ourwmi n remr/c e bol qen ou]mi je va nijwit qen p yws nt ,wra je pousin e pefran pe iwann/c p s/ri m markoc

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