Saint Barsum the Naked and His Veneration at al-Ma‘sara (Dayr Shahran)

This chapter examines the veneration of St. Barsoum the Naked near Cairo, in a monastery originally known as Dayr Shahran. During the time of St. Barsum the Naked, the Church underwent severe tribulation in the latter part of the sultanate of Khalil ibn Qalawun, when all the churches of Egypt, except in Alexandria, were closed, and Christians were forced to wear blue turbans as a way of distinguishing themselves from the Muslims. St. Barsum refused to wear a blue turban, and was later flogged and imprisoned. After he was released, he lived on the roof of the church, continuing to pray that God would forgive the sins of his people and soften the hearts of their rulers.

The Pachomian Federation and Lower Egypt: The Ties that Bind

This chapter deals with the monasteries in Lower Egypt that were part of the Pachomian Federation of Upper Egypt. In the discourse of Coptic Christian history, the Pachomians retain their place as part of the golden age of monastic origins from which their movement transitions seamlessly into a more general post-Chalcedonian, post-Pachomian cenobitism. The history of this development began in the formative years of the movement. The seeds of the later Pachomian presence in Lower Egypt and their growing influence in the ecclesiastical politics of Alexandria were sown early in the movement's history in Upper Egypt. The flow of Alexandrian ascetics and ascetic wannabes up the Nile River into the Thebaid to the new Pachomian cenobia prepared the way for the later Pachomian expansion downriver to Alexandria.

The Bashmurite Revolts in the Delta and the ‘Bashmuric Dialect’

This chapter examines the history of the famous Bashmuric revolts and introduces the so-called Bashmuric dialect of Coptic. The Bashmuric revolts were recorded by Coptic and Arabic medieval historians and became known to European scholars as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the eighth and ninth centuries, the population of the Delta revolted very successfully for a longer period against the Arab rule and administration. Historians and the History of the Patriarchs attributed the revolts to the insupportable fiscal demands and unjust treatment of the Christian population by the Muslim governors (walis). The appearance of the Bashmuric dialect is first noted in the description of Athanasius of Qus (fourteenth century) in his Coptic grammar written in Arabic. Early scholars (beginning in the seventeenth century) studying Coptic manuscripts then tried to apply Athanasius' division of the Coptic language to the Coptic texts.

The Relationship between the Monks of Northern Egypt and the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church

This chapter surveys how bishops Athanasius, Theophilus, and Cyril interacted with the monks of northern Egypt. Although at times Kellia, Nitria, or Scetis are discussed in particular, for the most part the chapter speaks generally of monks resident in the semi-eremitical communities of the north. It is often difficult to determine precisely where the monks that they name were located, and the settlements at Kellia often served as a subset or more withdrawn version of other communities in Nitria. Kellia in particular was most populous in the sixth and seventh centuries, but the discussions focus on the fourth and fifth centuries, when the relationship between the monks and the patriarch was first established. The most significant areas or themes of the interactions between these monks and the patriarchs were proper ascetic practice, appointment to the episcopate, and the promotion of orthodoxy and the suppression of heresy and paganism.

Highlights from the Polish Excavations at Marea/Philoxenite 2000–14

This chapter focuses on Marea/Philoxenite, the subject of the excavation campaigns by the Polish Mission in Egypt during the period of 2000–14. It documents the history and the architecture of the site settlement. Marea/Philoxenite is located forty-five kilometers southwest of Alexandria, on the southern shore of Lake Maryut. The city was a major port, active during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and perhaps even earlier, during the Ptolemaic era. During fifteen seasons of excavations, the Polish Archaeological Mission has revealed two independent architectural complexes: a bath complex supported by a saqya and a funerary chapel, and a Christian basilica. Both complexes were active from the beginning of the sixth to the beginning of the eighth centuries.

Architecture in Kellia

This chapter describes the architecture of Kellia. At their maximum development, in the sixth and seventh centuries, the settlements of Kellia were covered with hermitages established at a certain distance from each other. These autonomous units were demarcated by enclosures whose size varied, depending on the number of occupants. The enclosures had a rectangular shape with a general southeast-northwest orientation and the habitations were predominantly established in their western corner. The entrance of the hermitage was usually in the south, thus protected from the prevailing winds. A well, dug in the southeastern part of the courtyard, provided the inhabitants with the water for their daily needs as well as for the watering of the garden. Latrines were installed against the southern wall and the sewage was drained out of the enclosure toward the south.

Butrus al-Sadamanti al-Armani (Peter of Sadamant ‘the Armenian’)

This chapter focuses on Butrus al-Sadamanti al-Armani, who enriched the Christian Arabic literature of Egypt later in the thirteenth century with many important works. More works are attributed to Butrus than those he actually wrote, and some works are recorded under more than one title. His works can be divided into five categories: biblical, theological, moral or ethical, spiritual works, and edifying stories. His masterpiece is a commentary on the Passion of Christ preceded by an introduction on biblical hermeneutic, al-Tashih fi alam al-Sayyid al-Masih (The Correction [or Rectification] in the Sufferings of the Lord Christ), or Tafsir alam al-Sayyid al-Masih (Interpretation of the Sufferings of the Lord Christ).

Conservation of Mural Paintings in the Coptic Museum

This chapter describes the preservation efforts undertaken by the American Research Center in Egypt on the famous murals, preserved in the Cairo Coptic Museum, which were originally excavated in Apa Jeremiah's Saqqara monastery and Apa Apollo's Bawit monastery. These wall paintings have traditionally been considered the principal symbols of Coptic art. The Saqqara niches were excavated between 1906 and 1910. In keeping with Egyptian tradition, all the paintings are painted on plaster a secco. The Saqqara niches were constructed of mud brick lined with a white lime plaster arricio, often quite coarse and uneven, containing siliceous alluvial sand and some occasional plant fibers. The Bawit niches were excavated in 1913. The two niches were painted on mud with only a thin white lime wash applied for the paintings, rendering them considerably more delicate than the Saqqara niches.

Kellia: Its Decoration in Painting and Stucco

This chapter discusses the artistic elements excavated at Kellia. Numerous buildings, decorations of some sort have been unearthed, ranging from simple graffito-like drawings in red ocher to elaborate painted stucco imitations of columns. Most of these decorations were found in the oratories, the private or communal rooms for prayer. Many of the paintings are of a decorative character and do not show any religious characteristics. Red ocher was often used for painting floors and a dado decoration that reached to approximately one meter high on the walls of certain rooms. Geometrical, floral, and animal motifs were used, while crosses are the most frequent elements with an obvious Christian meaning.

The Bohairic Acts of the Martyrs as a Genre of Religious Discourse

This chapter examines the function of the Acts of the Martyrs preserved in Bohairic, which played a very influential role in the life of the Church at times, despite their historical inaccuracies. It takes a closer look at the social practices in which these texts functioned and interprets them as manifestations of religious discourse, where the term “discourse” is used in a broad sense to refer to human linguistic behavior appropriate in given social circumstances regardless of the mode (oral or written). It suggests that that the Acts of the Martyrs, which were intended to be read aloud during the liturgical commemoration of a martyr, were essentially persuasive texts: their main function was to influence the attitudes and behavior of their intended audience. The purpose of the present analysis is to reconstruct the strategies by which the realization of this persuasive aim was made possible.