SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

kept at the Cairo National Archive, and is written in Arabic. According to the author, the problem in dealing with such documents is not their scarcity but rather their abundance and variety. Based on the illustrations from the manuscript shown, I can personally add to the above such problems as their apparent difficulty to decipher and the tedious nature of their composition. But now we can clearly see that the benefits do outweigh the difficulties. Publication of such material will help greatly in recruiting researchers in this valuable field. The third paper was by Fr. Bigoul al-Suriany, titled: Youhanna al-Fayoumi, the Conservator of Coptic Manuscripts in the 18 th Century . The author, being the librarian of the Syrian Monastery in Wadi al-Natrun as well as a manuscript conservator, dealt with the topic of similar personality in history that came from al-Fayoum. Youhanna al-Fayoumi was that man. The paper began with an extensive survey of the monks that came from al-Fayoum and lived in the monasteries of Scete. This was followed by detailed descriptions of the work of Youhanna. It included the monumental task of conserving about 300 manuscripts there. The paper described some of the methods used in the conservation process including the remargining of the manuscript pages as well as the rebinding of these volumes. Despite the volume of manuscripts that he conserved, the quality of his work has been judged as excellent. He was also a scribe and he subsequently became the abbot of his monastery in the 18 th Century. He is credited by the author as single-handedly saving the monastery Library. Such spirit, diligence, and perseverance are the ingredients needed in recovering our heritage and history. The fourth and final paper of this session was by Prof. Boud'hors, titled, Fayoumic Literature and Manuscripts . Publishing of Fayoumic literature has not been in the forefront of Coptic literature. Sahidic, academically, and Bohairic, ecclesiastically, tended to dominate the research and publication in Coptic Studies. But once in a while someone would rise and remind us of the wealth that the manuscripts in this dialect contribute to Coptic literature. At this time, this author is the star of the field. She has done

extensive publications of fragments in this dialect in the last decade. In this paper she surveyed the scope of the surviving corpus in this dialect. During the survey she mentioned many of the scholars that have contributed to the publication of these works. She enumerated the manuscripts found by topic; which included the Old Testament, New Testament, Apocryphal, Patristic, Hagiographic, Homiletic, and Liturgical texts. According to the author this literary dialect survived at least until the 10 th Century. The texts in the area have been translated into Sahidic as seen in the contents of the Library of St. Michael monastery, except for a single manuscript about St. Michael, which remained in both dialects in there. This was a testimony for the importance of such work for the region. Her most important comment came in regards to the Origin of the Fayoumic version of the Bible. Traditionally, it has been regarded as a translation from Bohairic, which is seen in the classical texts found in this dialect. However, examination of the early texts found shows that the early Fayumic had an independent translation from the Greek in the same way that is seen in Bohairic and Sahidic. She concluded with a translation from one of the homilies in this dialect, preserved in the Köln University Library in Germany, dealing with a prophesy concerning Egypt. Session Nine, February 10, 2004; Chairman: Dr. Sigfried Richter. This session was the concluding one of the Symposium. The first paper was by Dr. van der Vliet, titled: Coptic Inscriptions in al-Fayoum . It dealt with the Coptic inscriptions found in several places the greater al-Fayoum area. The inscriptions are divided into four major categories: Funerary Inscriptions, Monumental or Dedicatory Inscriptions, Mural Inscriptions, and Inscriptions on Various Objects of Art. They were either discovered in churches, monasteries, or cemeteries. The oldest found were in the church of St. Mena in an-Nazlah, west of the city of al- Fayoum, which dates to the 2 nd half of the 7 th Century. The latest were found in Tutun, South

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