Coptic Language History (2)

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Administrator

We will continue our study of the history of the Coptic Language in Egypt. This is part two which covers up to the 13th century.

BEGIN (CE:604a-607a) COPTIC LANGUAGE, SPOKEN.

With the Arab conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, use of the Arabic language began to appear among the Egyptians. However, Copts started writing their own theological treatises in Arabic in the thirteenth century. Coptic as a spoken language of the country folk persisted in numerous regions of Upper Egypt to the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth.

The factors at work in the gradual disappearance of the Coptic language may be enumerated as follows:

1. The decision in 706 of ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, the Arab viceroy of Egypt, to use Arabic as the only language of the administration. To keep their places in the administration, the Coptic functionaries learned the language of the rulers and this led to the appearance of bilingual documents at first, ultimately giving way to Arabic as the sole mode of expression in the government.

2. The gradual apostasy of the Copts to Islam as a result of the successive waves of financial pressures and religious persecution. The change was accelerated by the promise of promotion to all Islamized members of the community and the desire to escape from the imposition of a progressively heavy capitation tax known as JIZYAH on those who clung to the old faith and resisted apostasy to Islam.

3. The excessive persecutions of the natives, notably by al- HAKIM BI-AMR ILLAH (996-1020) who issued an order to stop the use of Coptic not only in public places and offices but also at homes and in private circles. Those caught conversing in Coptic were liable to have their tongues cut. Consequently, the Copts were forced to screen their places of worship where religious offices were celebrated in Coptic. Nevertheless, the ruling class did not hesitate to attack these places of worship and to punish all Coptic worshipers without mercy. It is said that the establishment of mills at the entrance of churches in those days was intentionally done to drown out the sound of Coptic hymns within, as a means of deluding the government forces from without.

4. The decadence of the monastic institutions, which hitherto had been fortresses of strength for the Christian faith. The monks were subjected to heavy imposts, and it is said that in 710 those who paid the taxes were marked by cauterization of their hands. Consequently, monks unable to show their cauterization were subjected to the most sordid persecution. In 732 a group of such monks had their hands amputated, and some died while their churches were pillaged.

5. The introduction of the Arabic language in the churches to cope with the gradual failure of the congregation to understand the Gospels and the liturgies in Coptic. This change was authorized by Pope GABRIEL II in the twelfth century, and the arabization of the church offices has continued until the present.

 The use of Arabic instead of Coptic in religious literature is best exemplified in the History of the Patriarchs compiled by Sawirus, bishop of Ashmunayn in the tenth century. Again in the thirteenth century, the famous work on the story of churches and monasteries, ascribed wrongly to ABU SALIH THE ARMENIAN, and authored by ABU AL-MAKARIM, appeared in Arabic. At this time, however, numerous treatises appeared bilingually in Coptic and Arabic. END

 From : The Coptic Encyclopedia, Editor in ChiefAziz S. Atiya, University of Utah

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The Monk and the Emperor

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Administrator

Another story on humility by abba Poemen:

BEGIN

19.  (A longer version of V.xv.66) The blessed senior monk Poemen told the brothers the following account of a monk who lived in Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Theodosius. “He had a little cell in the suburb called Septimum, just outside the city, where the Emperors used to come out from the city to relax. When the Emperor heard that there was a solitary monk living there who never went out of his cell, he took a walk over to the place where the monk lived, warning the eunuchs who were with him to prevent anyone following him to the monk’s cell. He went on alone and knocked on his door, and the monk got up and opened the door but did not recognize that his visitor was the Emperor, for he had taken off his crown to prevent recognition. After the prayer of welcome they sat down and the Emperor began to question him. “‘How do the holy fathers in Egypt spend their time?’ he asked. “‘They all pray for your salvation,’ he replied. “The Emperor looked around the cell and saw nothing except a few loaves of dry bread hanging up in baskets. “‘Give a blessing, father,’ he said, ‘and let us have something to eat.’ “‘The monk immediately brought water and salt, and a few little loaves and they ate together. He offered the Emperor water, and he drank. “‘Do you know who I am?’ the Emperor Theodosius then asked. “‘No sir, I don’t,’ the monk replied. “‘I am the Emperor Theodosius,’ he said, ‘but I have come here simply as a pilgrim.’ “At this the monk prostrated himself. “‘Blessed are you monks’ said the Emperor, ‘for you are free and safe from all the worries of the world and go through life in peace and quietness, concentrating on the salvation of your souls and how you may gain the heavenly reward of eternal life. I was born into royalty, and I live in royalty, and I tell you truly that I can never eat my food free from care.’ “The Emperor then showed him every mark of respect before taking his leave. That same night the servant of God began to turn things over in his mind. “‘I don’t think I ought to live here any longer, for there will be many not only from the common people but also from the palace and the senators who will want to follow the Emperor’s example and come to visit me, and honour me as some servant of God who deserves adulation. And although they will be doing this in the name of the Lord, I am fearful that the malignant devil will take advantage of this, I shall begin to enjoy welcoming them in, and my heart will be led astray by their praises and respect, and gradually I shall lose the virtue of humility, and I shall revel in their praises and respect.’ “Turning these things over in his mind, the man of God that same night fled to the holy fathers in the desert of Egypt. “So, my dear brothers, just think how much value that servant of God placed in the virtue of humility, by which he might be found worthy to receive from Christ the Lord eternal glory in the kingdom of heaven, because of the labours of a holy life, lived in the name of the Lord.” END

From: De Vitis Patrum, Book III by Rufinus of Aquileia, Presbyter

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Coptic Language History (1)

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Administrator

Today we will study briefly the history of the Coptic Language in Egypt. This is part one.

BEGIN (CE:604a-607a) COPTIC LANGUAGE, SPOKEN.

Coptic was the spoken language of ancient Egypt until the ARAB CONQUEST OF EGYPT in the seventh century. It was recorded first in the hieroglyphic (sacred) script, the earliest form of Egyptian pictorial writing, and succeeded by the hieratic (priestly), which was the simplified running script, and the demotic (from “demos,” meaning people), which became the popular form of Egyptian writing.

Later, during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty, approximately in the third century B.C., instead of the still complicated demotic script, Egyptians began to adopt the Greek alphabet, which became distinguished as Coptic. Because the Greek alphabet could not cope with all the Egyptian sounds, it became necessary to add seven letters from the demotic script to express the full range of the Coptic language. These were, of course, the final seven letters of the new Coptic alphabet, that is, s (shai), f (fay), q (khay), h (houri), j (janja), [ (tchima), and ] (ti). It should be noted, however, that the letter q (khay) existed only in the Bohairic dialect, not in the Sahidic, and that the Akhmimic dialect used the form B to express the sound of the letter h (houri).

In the meantime, the new script was the only form that comprised the vowels unknown in the other ancient Egyptian writings. Consequently, the Coptic script expressed, for the first time, most of the sounds of the hitherto unknown vowels in the ancient Egyptian language.

The influence of the Greek vocabulary on Coptic began with Alexander’s conquest of Egypt in 332 B.C., when the government administration adopted Greek terminology. In the meantime, the government employees learned the Greek language, as did most classes of society in Lower Egypt. This led to the progressive incorporation of Greek words into the local demotic, ending up with the establishment of what is known as Proto-Coptic. This was mainly spoken Egyptian written in Greek characters. The Papyrus Heidelberg 414 from the third century B.C. is the oldest document known to represent this phase in the development of Coptic.

The next stage is known as Old Coptic. In Roman times, from the third to the second century B.C., we find stelae as well as mummy labels and even papyrus documents containing Egyptian demotic names written in Greek letters interspersed with demotic signs beyond the seven aforementioned letters. They were mainly the product of pagan mystic signs, symbols, and horoscopes. Since the Alexandrian population was conversant with Greek as well as with Coptic, many Greek theological terms were used in all attempts to translate the scripture into Coptic. With the spread of Christianity among the inhabitants of the Delta and Upper Egypt where people were not conversant with Greek and only knew the native tongue, it became necessary to translate the scripture into Coptic with fewer Greek influences.

We must assume that the purely Coptic version of the scripture, as well as the liturgies, must have emerged in the course of the third century A.D. Saint Antony, who was himself totally illiterate in Greek, was influenced by the Coptic Gospel dictate to sell all one’s possessions and distribute them among the poor (Mt. 19:21). A Coptic translation must have instructed the native followers of Saint Pachomius.

However, the full translation of the scripture from Greek into Coptic must have been completed only in the course of the fourth century A.D. After the Council of CHALCEDON in 451, the Copts lost their interest in Greek and concentrated on their native tongue. END

From : The Coptic Encyclopedia, Editor in Chief Aziz S. Atiya, University of Utah

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We continue our study on the Coptic calendar, today we read about the first month of the calendar known as “tho-out” in Coptic.

Begin: (CE:438a-440a)

The twelve months and the origins of their names are as follows:

1. Bohairic, ywout; Sahidic, yoout; Arabic Tut (September 11-12 to October 9-10). The first month of the Coptic year was dedicated to Thoth, god of wisdom and science, inventor of writing, patron of scribes, and “he who designates the seasons, months, and years.” Thoth presided over the “House of Life,” where were composed and copied all texts necessary for the maintenance and replenishment of life.

2. Bohairic, paopi; Sahidic, paope; Arabic, Babah (October 11-12 to November 9-10). During the second month was celebrated the “beautiful feast of Opet,” whose name Paopi signifies “that of Opet.” According to Erman, the “colonnade of the temple of Luxor, decorated by Pharaoh Tut-Ankh-Amon, depicts the unfolding of this great festival in all its diversity. We see Amon-Ra traveling from Karnak to Luxor to celebrate the famous festival of Opet, from which the month Babah derives its name.”

3. Bohairic, aywr; Sahidic, haywr; Arabic, Hatur (November 10-11 to December 9-10). This month commemorated Hathor, a very ancient goddess, found even in predynastic times, the “Cow of Heaven,” who gave birth to the sun and to all beings, gods and men. As the living soul of plants and trees, nurse to the rulers of Egypt, and mother of Horus, like Isis (with whom she was assimilated), Hathor was the “Gold of the Gods” and clothed herself in the form of a lion.

4. Bohairic, ,oiak; Sahidic, koiahk; Arabic, Kiyahk (December 10-11 to January 8-9). This month derives its name from a ritual vase that was probably used for measuring incense and was very important in the celebration of the funerary feast originally known as the Union of the Ka. During this month, the great Osirian festivals were held, events of considerable importance to the Egyptian, for they represented:

(1) the quest for the dismembered body of the martyred god, Osiris, pursued by the hatred of those representing the forces of evil; (2) the reuniting and reconstruction of his scattered parts into the form of a mummy; and (3) the burial of this simulacrum in the sacred cemetery.

These mysteries were carried out in silence within the temple. Small statues made of wet clay mixed with seeds were fashioned in the form of Osiris and placed upon a bed. After a few days, the seeds germinated, and the figures became furry, keeping the original contours of the clay statues that had given them birth. Such are the “Vegetating Osiris,” those green and virile figures, those small and holy gardens, that are occasionally found faded in the Theban tombs. A reflection of this ancient practice is found today among present-day Egyptians, who still make lentils germinate in moist cotton pads for certain religious festivals.

5. Bohairic, twbi; Sahidic, twbe; Arabic, Tubah (January 9- 10 to February 7-8). During this month a great festival known as the Swelling of the Barley was celebrated. This name is listed in the Ebers papyrus, which dates from the beginning of the New Kingdom. According to Cerny (1943, pp. 173-81), the month was originally called Botti (Barley), but by metathesis became Tobi.

6. Bohairic, me,ir; Sahidic, msir; Arabic, Amshir (February 8-9 to March 9). This is one of two months (distinguished from each other as the “large” and the “small”) related to fire and represented in the lists of festival objects by a brasier from which fire escapes (Parker, 1950, p. 46). This is the month of the “large fire” because it is the coldest time of year.

7. Bohairic, vamenwy; Sahidic, parmhotp; Arabic, Baramhat (March 10-11 to April 8). This month was originally consecrated to a festival; but after the death of Amenhotep, first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he became the object of a particular cult and was worshipped as one of the divine patrons of the Theban necropolis. Around the Twentieth Dynasty, this cult became so popular that his name replaced that of the early festival (Parker, 1950, p. 45).

8. Bohairic, varmouyi; Sahidic, parmoute; Arabic, Baramudah (April 9 to May 8). This month was dedicated to Ermonthis, goddess of the harvest, represented as having a serpent’s head and sometimes as nursing her son Kapri, the god of grain.

9. Bohairic, pa,wn; Sahidic, pasonc; Arabic, Bashans (May 9 to June 7). This month took its name from the ancient festival of Khonsou, a lunar god who in very early times was integrated into the Theban theology as the son of Amon and Mut. With many qualities attributed to him, he is described as Khonsou the Magnanimous, his foremost Theban name.

10. Bohairic, paoni; Sahidic, pawne; Arabic, Ba’unah (June 8 to July 7). In ancient times, “the Beautiful Festival of the Valley” was celebrated during this month. Held in the Valley of the Kings and lasting some ten days, it was without doubt the most important celebration in the life of the Egyptian people. As the annual commemoration of the dead, it included “the sacrifice, the visit to the tomb, the presentation of a consecrated bouquet, and finally, the banquet given in honor of the deceased, in which relatives, dancers, and musicians participated” (Derchain, 1954, p. 86).

11. Bohairic, ep/p; Sahidic, ep/p; Arabic, Abib (July 8 to August 6). This month was consecrated in ancient Egypt to Ipy, goddess of fecundity, who assumed the form of a hippopotamus. The origin of this name is obscure, but it is probably a later form of ’Ipyp, identified at Thebes with Toeris, also a goddess of fecundity who was represented as a hippopotamus. Alabaster containers, meant to hold the water for the libations poured on the ground as an offering to this goddess, also bear the name of this festival (as did objects used in the festivals for the months of Kiyahk and Amshir).

12. Bohairic, mecwr/; Sahidic, mecor/; Arabic, Misra (August 7 to September 5). The last month of the year celebrated the birth of the sun god Ra, though originally this, the last lunar month of the year, was named for the festival honoring the heliacal rising of Sothis (Sirius). For a while, the two names were used conjointly to designate the last month of the civil calendar, but then Ra’s name was accessorily applied to the first day of the civil New Year, which came to be known as the Birth of the Solar Disk during the Twentieth Dynasty and the Ptolemaic era. At Dandarah, where the two names were frequently associated with each other, the festival was called “the Festival of Ra, he who ushers in the New Year.” Gardiner (1966, p. 65), seeing therein a solar festival, considered it to be a commemoration of the “moment when the sun god, at his rising, signaled the succession of the months and years.” However, the first rising of Ra was also the moment of his birth (Mesore), the occasion of his first appearance (Parker, 1950, p. 46).

Finally, the epagomenal, or intercalary, days, called the “delayed days” (Arabic, ayyam al-nasi) or the “little month” (Arabic, al-shahr al-saghir), are five extra days that follow the month of Misra (six during leap year). The first of these days was reserved by the ancient Egyptians for the festival honoring their most celebrated god, Osiris. Certain other great ceremonies also took place at this time.

END.

FROM: THE COPTIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1991, Editor in Chief Aziz S. Atiya, University of Utah, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, Collier Macmillan Canada, Toronto, Maxwell Macmillan International, New York Oxford Singapore Sydney

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Administrator | Leave a comment

Coptic Calendar

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Administrator

Today marks the beginning of the Coptic Year 1729 A.M. We will study the history of the Coptic calendar. Please note that the names of the Coptic months are written in Coptic in the article but it might not be viewed correctly.

Begin: (CE:438a-440a)

CALENDAR, MONTHS OF COPTIC. Of all survivals from pharaonic Egypt, the calendar is the most striking. Each of the twelve months of the Coptic calendar still carries the name of one of the deities or feasts of ancient Egypt. Without doubt, this reflects the conservatism that characterizes the inhabitants of the Nile Valley, who are reluctant to set aside their traditional way of life.

The year was divided into three seasons of equal length, each comprising four months. Possibly as early as the Ramesside period, each month came to be named for an important festival that was celebrated during that period of time. Documents from around the fifth century B.C., such as the Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, indicate that the great festivals held in honor of certain divinities gave their names to the month in which that particular celebration occurred, and an inscription from Pharaoh Shebaka (700 B.C.) reveals that this certainly was the practice during the Ethiopian era (Cerny, 1951, pp. 441-42).

Thanks to a hieratic ostracon in the British Museum (no. 5639a), Adolf Erman was able to identify the names of the festivals which are at the root of the names for the months of Thoout (Tut), Paopi (Babah), Athor (Hatur), Mekhir (Amshir), and Phamenoth (Baramhat). Some years later, Gardiner, working with two papyri from Turin, added the names for the festivals of the months Epep (Abib) and Mesore (Misra), while J. Cerny, using documents from the Cairo Museum and excavations of the Institut français at Dayr al-Madinah, found the names for the festivals of the months Pharmouthi (Baramudah) and Paoni (Ba’unah). Finally, thanks to a hieratic papyrus acquired by the Cairo Museum (no. 86637), which dates from the Ramesside period and contains the so-called Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days, Cerny (1943, pp. 173-81) was able to identify the festival for the first month of the winter season, Tobi (Tubah). END.

FROM: THE COPTIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1991, Aziz S. Atiya, University of Utah, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, Collier Macmillan Canada, Toronto, Maxwell Macmillan International, New York Oxford Singapore Sydney

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Abba Poemen and the Judge

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Administrator

“On this day also, the ascetic saint, abba Poemen, departed. He was born about the year 350 A.D., in one of the cities of Egypt. He had six brothers, John, Jacob, Job, Joseph, Sonosyos, and Abraham. They all agreed to become monks, and they dwelt in a remote place.”

— From the Coptic Synaxarium, the 4th of Elnasie/the small month.

We read more about Abba Poemen in Vitae Patrum Book 3:

BEGIN: 
 20.    (A longer version of V.viii.13) On this subject, others among the holy fathers made the following mention of the holy Poemen himself. “Once when the provincial judge arrived and heard of Poemen’s reputation for holiness, he tried to pay him a visit, and sent a messenger to ask if Poemen would be willing to receive him. Poemen was not very pleased. “‘If the nobility are going to start coming to see me and pay me, respect,’ he thought to himself, ‘all sorts of other people will also want to come, and that will mean that the hidden quality of my life will be destroyed, and by the workings of the malignant devil I shall lose the grace of humility that with so much labour I have striven to cultivate, with the help of the Lord, from my youth up.’ “After a long struggle with himself he decided to excuse himself and refuse to accept a visit from the judge. The judge was very disappointed at his refusal to see him. “‘I suppose it is because of my sins that I am not good enough to see the man of God,’ he said to his deputy. Nevertheless he still fervently desired to see the holy man by any means that he possibly could. So he thought up a plan which would provide an excuse for seeing him; he arrested the son of blessed Poemen’s sister and put him in prison, hoping that this would make Poemen willing to see him, or even to make him come and make a plea before the judge. “‘To save the old man any worry’, he said to his deputy, ‘tell him that he must make up his mind to come and see me. That is what is needed if we are to free the young man from prison. His case is such that we cannot pass over it unpunished.’ “When the young man’s mother, holy Poemen’s sister, heard of this she went out into the desert where Poemen was, stood at the door of his cell with much sobbing and weeping, begging him to go down to the judge and plead for her son. But the blessed Poemen not only said nothing to her, but he would not even open the door and go out to her. So she began to curse him. “‘You are wicked and hard-hearted,’ she said. ‘You’ve got guts of iron. Can’t my great grief fill you with pity? I only have the one son, who now stands in danger of death.’ “Poemen sent her a message by the brother who ministered to him. “‘Go and tell her that Poemen has no sons and so therefore it is no concern of his.’ “When the judge got to hear of all this, he spoke to his scribes, “‘Write him a letter to say that if only he will write to me with a request, I might be able to release the young man.’ “Faced with so many people urging him, the holy old man at last did write to the judge. “‘May your honour inquire diligently into his case and if he has done anything worthy of death, let him die, so that by paying the penalty for his sin in this present life he may be spared the eternal punishments of everlasting hell. But if he has done nothing worthy of death, do you decide what is right according to the law.'”

END.

From: De Vitis Patrum, Book III by Rufinus of Aquileia, Presbyter

 

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A Rule to Please God

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Administrator

V.i.1. When abba Antony was asked, “What rule should I keep in order to please God?”  the old man replied, “Follow this rule which I give you. Wherever you go, keep God continually before your eyes and apply the yardstick of Holy Scripture to everything you do. Wherever you happen to be don’t try to move on too quickly. Do these three things and you will live.”

From: De Vitis Patrum Book V By an Unknown Greek Author, translated into Latin by Pelagius the Deacon, Libellus 1: Rules of the Fathers

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Guarding the Walls

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Administrator

Paphnutius the disciple of St. Macarius of Alexandria told us:

“One day, when I was suffering from accidie, I went to him and said: ” Father, what shall I do ? Since my thoughts afflict me saying, ‘You are making no progress, go away from here.”‘ And he said to me: ” Tell them, ‘For Christ’s sake I am guarding the walls,”

From: Palladius -The Lausiac History – Chapter XVIII: MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA 

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God for your sake humbled Himself

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Administrator

God, for your  sake humbled Himself,  and you will not be  humbled for your own sake?!

The Lord  Himself who is the Way  and is God, after He  came not on His own  behalf but for  you so that  He might be  an example for you of everything good, see, He came in such humility, taking “the form  of a slave” [Philippians 2:7], He Who  is God, the  Son of God,  King, the Son of King   …

But do  not despise His divine dignity,  as you look at Him,  externally humiliated  as one like us. For our sakes He so appeared, not for Himself…

When they spat in His face and placed a crown of thorns on Him and hit Him, what more humiliation could He have yet undergone?…

If  God   condescends  to such  insults  and sufferings  and  humiliation, you, who by  nature  are clay and are  mortal, no matter how much you are humiliated, will never do anything similar to what your Master did.

God, for your sake, humbled Himself and you will not be humbled for your own sake?!

— St Macarius the Great (Homily 26, 25-26)


 

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Abba Anthony

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Administrator

Abba Antonios said:

“The time is coming when people will be seized by manias and will behave like madmen. And if they see anyone acting reasonably, they will rise up against him saying: ‘You are insane.’ And they will have accurately said this to him, for he will not be like them.”

Excerpt from: The Ancient Fathers of the Desert: Introduction and Commentary, V. Rev. Chrysostomos, trans.

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