SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

e bol niben eynaswpi nwou n di a to,oc sa ]cunteli a > f naswpi nemwou n je p [c > ouoh n tefmosi n q/tou> ouoh n touswpi n q/tf sa p jwk e bol n te ni e neh. pw ou naf nem pefiwt na gayoc nem pip na eyouab sa e neh n te ni e neh t/rou. a m/n. every one who became unto them a successor to the end, He will be with them namely the Lord, and He will walk among them and they will dwell in Him until the end of the ages. The glory be to him with his good Father and the Holy Spirit for the age of all the ages Amen. [Lagarde, Catenae in Evanglia Aegyptiaca Quae Supersunt . Gottingen 1886, pp. 80L.24-82L.12] n te ni e neh: alla ouon

Chant Like Philemon! (By Hany N Takla)

author to draw from it or from a common source to both works. The identification and provenance of the source of this tradition is outside the scope of this article. So in the Synaxarium's commemoration of the Martyrdom of St. Andrew, brother of St. Peter on 4 th of Kiahk, we read: And when he came in Lydda the city, the majority of them believed at the hand of Butrus (Peter), and there was with him his disciple Philemon. Philemon was of a beautiful voice, wise and a good speaker(?). So he c mmanded him to ascend to the Anbel (or the pulpit) and read. When the idols priests heard of the coming of the disciple they took their spears and came to the church to listen if they were insulting their gods. When they heard Philemon say, gods of the nations are gold and silver, it has mouths that does not utter, and eyes that does not see, so their makers are like them'. So from the beauty of his voice, their hearts dissolved and they entered the church and fell at the feet of the disciple Andrew and they believed in Christ. [CML1587, Bibliotheque de France Arabe 256, f.67r- 68v]

In the famous 13 th Century work, titled, Kitab Al- Jawharah al-Nafisah fi ‘Ulum al-Kanisah [al- Jawhara], by Yuhanna Ibn Abi Zakariyya Ibn Siba‘, we find the following quote from Chapter 44: And if he was a chanter, let him be with a beautiful voice to make the people love the faith like Philemon who when he spoke in chanting, the idols would fall from the melody in him and the beauty of his voice. [Cf St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter (SSCN) 7.4, Jul 2001, 5] The question of who is 'the chanter' is answered later in Chapter 45, which describes the duties of the Reader or the Ughnustus, as follows: … and for him is the chanting in the midst of the church. And he would stand upon an elevated place in the midst of the church and chant with which is appropriately chanted at that time whether it be a Lord’s feast, a martyr’s feast, or other than that from the prayers and the liturgies. [Cf SSCN 7.4, Jul 2001, 5] Now that the link between 'the chanter' and the reader is established, who is 'Philemon' that the ordained reader needs to chant like him?

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter The answer is actually found in the Synaxarium of the Coptic Church, which was not written much earlier than the time of the composition of al Jawhara . And it may have been available to its In conclusion, one finds that the neglect of such qualification, stated above, has contributed greatly to the tragic decline in the Coptic Language in the Coptic Churches in America. This is clearly seen in the decline in the Liturgical Biblical Reading. [Cf. SSCN 8.4, Jul 2002, 4-9]

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