Kurt J. Werthmuller
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774163456
- eISBN:
- 9781617970238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774163456.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and ...
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Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and context of the Christian community of Egypt and its relations with the leadership of the Ayyubid dynasty in the early thirteenth century. The book introduces new scholarship that illuminates the varied relationships between medieval Christians of Egypt and their Muslim neighbors. Demonstrating that the Coptic community was neither passive nor static, the book discusses the active role played by the Copts in the formation and evolution of their own identity within the wider political and societal context of this period. In particular, it examines the boundaries between Copts and the wider Egyptian society in the Ayyubid period in three “in-between spaces”: patriarchal authority, religious conversion, and monasticism.Less
Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and context of the Christian community of Egypt and its relations with the leadership of the Ayyubid dynasty in the early thirteenth century. The book introduces new scholarship that illuminates the varied relationships between medieval Christians of Egypt and their Muslim neighbors. Demonstrating that the Coptic community was neither passive nor static, the book discusses the active role played by the Copts in the formation and evolution of their own identity within the wider political and societal context of this period. In particular, it examines the boundaries between Copts and the wider Egyptian society in the Ayyubid period in three “in-between spaces”: patriarchal authority, religious conversion, and monasticism.
Donald Malcolm Reid
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789774166891
- eISBN:
- 9781617976759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166891.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Murqus Simaika's career, the Coptic Museum he founded in 1908, Mirrit Boutros Ghali's Society of Coptic Archeology (1934), and the perception that Copts were “sons of the pharaohs” provide main ...
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Murqus Simaika's career, the Coptic Museum he founded in 1908, Mirrit Boutros Ghali's Society of Coptic Archeology (1934), and the perception that Copts were “sons of the pharaohs” provide main narrative threads for this chapter. In the late nineteenth century, Simaika and other Coptic Christian lay reformers, partly inspired by British and American Protestant missionaries, used the Coptic Community Council and the press to challenge clerical control of Coptic endowments, schools, and personal status law. Simaika's museum and—two generations later—Mirrit Boutros Ghali's Coptic Archeological Society highlighted Egypt's leading role in the early centuries of Christianity. Modern Coptic popes, priests, and monks generally trailed Coptic laymen in appreciating either Coptic or pharaonic antiquities. Shortly after Simaika's death in 1944, the acquisition of the Nag Hammadi codices drew international attention to the Coptic Museum. Coptic journalist Salama Musa, on the other hand, emphasized pharaonic and Egyptian national rather than Coptic communal heritage. Coptic scriptures and liturgy, had preserved the latest form of the ancient Egyptian language, and Cairo's school of Egyptology long turned out proportionately more Coptic than Muslim Egyptologists.Less
Murqus Simaika's career, the Coptic Museum he founded in 1908, Mirrit Boutros Ghali's Society of Coptic Archeology (1934), and the perception that Copts were “sons of the pharaohs” provide main narrative threads for this chapter. In the late nineteenth century, Simaika and other Coptic Christian lay reformers, partly inspired by British and American Protestant missionaries, used the Coptic Community Council and the press to challenge clerical control of Coptic endowments, schools, and personal status law. Simaika's museum and—two generations later—Mirrit Boutros Ghali's Coptic Archeological Society highlighted Egypt's leading role in the early centuries of Christianity. Modern Coptic popes, priests, and monks generally trailed Coptic laymen in appreciating either Coptic or pharaonic antiquities. Shortly after Simaika's death in 1944, the acquisition of the Nag Hammadi codices drew international attention to the Coptic Museum. Coptic journalist Salama Musa, on the other hand, emphasized pharaonic and Egyptian national rather than Coptic communal heritage. Coptic scriptures and liturgy, had preserved the latest form of the ancient Egyptian language, and Cairo's school of Egyptology long turned out proportionately more Coptic than Muslim Egyptologists.
Samir Simaika and Nevine Henein
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789774168239
- eISBN:
- 9781617978265
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774168239.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Marcus Pasha Simaika (1864–1944) was born to a prominent Coptic family on the eve of the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. From a young age he developed a passion ...
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Marcus Pasha Simaika (1864–1944) was born to a prominent Coptic family on the eve of the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. From a young age he developed a passion for Coptic heritage and devoted his life to shedding light on centuries of Christian Egyptian history. His achievement lies in his role as a visionary administrator who used his status to pursue relentlessly his dream of founding a Coptic Museum and preserving endangered monuments. During his lengthy career—first as a civil servant, then as a legislator and member of the Coptic community council—Marcus Simaika maneuvered endlessly between the patriarch and the church hierarchy, the Coptic community council, the British authorities, and the government to bring them together in his fight to save Coptic heritage. This biography draws upon Simaika's unpublished memoirs as well as on other documents and photographs from the Simaika family archive to deepen our understanding of several important themes of modern Egyptian history: the development of Coptic archaeology and heritage studies, Egyptian–British interactions during the colonial and semi-colonial eras, shifting balances in the interaction of clergymen and the lay Coptic community, and the ever-sensitive evolution of relations between Copts and Muslims.Less
Marcus Pasha Simaika (1864–1944) was born to a prominent Coptic family on the eve of the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. From a young age he developed a passion for Coptic heritage and devoted his life to shedding light on centuries of Christian Egyptian history. His achievement lies in his role as a visionary administrator who used his status to pursue relentlessly his dream of founding a Coptic Museum and preserving endangered monuments. During his lengthy career—first as a civil servant, then as a legislator and member of the Coptic community council—Marcus Simaika maneuvered endlessly between the patriarch and the church hierarchy, the Coptic community council, the British authorities, and the government to bring them together in his fight to save Coptic heritage. This biography draws upon Simaika's unpublished memoirs as well as on other documents and photographs from the Simaika family archive to deepen our understanding of several important themes of modern Egyptian history: the development of Coptic archaeology and heritage studies, Egyptian–British interactions during the colonial and semi-colonial eras, shifting balances in the interaction of clergymen and the lay Coptic community, and the ever-sensitive evolution of relations between Copts and Muslims.
Donald M. Reid
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789774168239
- eISBN:
- 9781617978265
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774168239.003.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This book, drawing on Marcus Simaika's memoirs, explores several important themes in modern Egyptian history, including the causes and consequences of the Coptic Congress of 1911; what happened to ...
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This book, drawing on Marcus Simaika's memoirs, explores several important themes in modern Egyptian history, including the causes and consequences of the Coptic Congress of 1911; what happened to Coptic antiquities in the decade between the Coptic monuments being brought under the Committee for the Preservation of Arab Art's (Comité) jurisdiction in 1896 and Simaika's accession to a seat on the Comité; and the politics surrounding the nationalization of the Coptic Museum in 1931. This introduction provides an overview of the founding of the Coptic Museum and the development of Coptic archaeology and heritage studies, shifting balances in the interaction of clergymen and the lay Coptic community, and the evolution of Coptic/Muslim relations. It also considers Simaika's achievements in Coptic archaeology, especially the founding of the Coptic Museum.Less
This book, drawing on Marcus Simaika's memoirs, explores several important themes in modern Egyptian history, including the causes and consequences of the Coptic Congress of 1911; what happened to Coptic antiquities in the decade between the Coptic monuments being brought under the Committee for the Preservation of Arab Art's (Comité) jurisdiction in 1896 and Simaika's accession to a seat on the Comité; and the politics surrounding the nationalization of the Coptic Museum in 1931. This introduction provides an overview of the founding of the Coptic Museum and the development of Coptic archaeology and heritage studies, shifting balances in the interaction of clergymen and the lay Coptic community, and the evolution of Coptic/Muslim relations. It also considers Simaika's achievements in Coptic archaeology, especially the founding of the Coptic Museum.
Maged S.A. Mikhail and Mark Moussa
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774162602
- eISBN:
- 9781617970474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774162602.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter deals with the mention of the area in The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, also recounting interesting historical events that were witnessed there by the authors of this ...
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This chapter deals with the mention of the area in The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, also recounting interesting historical events that were witnessed there by the authors of this important historical work. It specifically sheds some light on the monasteries and monks of the Wādī al-Naṭrūn as they are mentioned and described in the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria. It then concentrates on the period of the Fatimids (969–1171 A.D.), which is generally considered one of the periods in which the Coptic community flourished. Next, it presents a number of remarks on the patriarchs Christodoulos and Cyril II, and on what their biographer, Mawhūb, has to say about them and about the monks and the monasteries of the Wādī al-Naṭrūn in their days. It also considers Saint Bishoi, Dayr al-Suryān, Saint John the Little, Saint Macarius, Baramūs, and Saint John Kamā. It is shown that Mawhūb was very much at home in several of its monasteries.Less
This chapter deals with the mention of the area in The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, also recounting interesting historical events that were witnessed there by the authors of this important historical work. It specifically sheds some light on the monasteries and monks of the Wādī al-Naṭrūn as they are mentioned and described in the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria. It then concentrates on the period of the Fatimids (969–1171 A.D.), which is generally considered one of the periods in which the Coptic community flourished. Next, it presents a number of remarks on the patriarchs Christodoulos and Cyril II, and on what their biographer, Mawhūb, has to say about them and about the monks and the monasteries of the Wādī al-Naṭrūn in their days. It also considers Saint Bishoi, Dayr al-Suryān, Saint John the Little, Saint Macarius, Baramūs, and Saint John Kamā. It is shown that Mawhūb was very much at home in several of its monasteries.
Samir Simaika and Nevine Henein
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789774168239
- eISBN:
- 9781617978265
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774168239.003.0009
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter discusses Marcus Simaika's relationship with the Coptic patriarchs of his time as a member, then vice president, of the Coptic Community Council (Majlis al-Milli) for thirty-nine ...
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This chapter discusses Marcus Simaika's relationship with the Coptic patriarchs of his time as a member, then vice president, of the Coptic Community Council (Majlis al-Milli) for thirty-nine consecutive years. In his attempts to start a Coptic museum, which needed patriarchal approval, Simaika fought many battles and used much diplomacy and compromise in his dealings with the Coptic hierarchy. The full title of the patriarch, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, is “Pope and Lord Archbishop of the Great City of Alexandria and Patriarch of all Africa on the Holy Orthodox and Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark the Evangelist, Holy Apostle and Martyr, that is in Egypt, Pentapolis, Libya, Nubia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and all Africa.” These patriarchs include Cyril IV, Cyril V, and Yohannes XIX.Less
This chapter discusses Marcus Simaika's relationship with the Coptic patriarchs of his time as a member, then vice president, of the Coptic Community Council (Majlis al-Milli) for thirty-nine consecutive years. In his attempts to start a Coptic museum, which needed patriarchal approval, Simaika fought many battles and used much diplomacy and compromise in his dealings with the Coptic hierarchy. The full title of the patriarch, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, is “Pope and Lord Archbishop of the Great City of Alexandria and Patriarch of all Africa on the Holy Orthodox and Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark the Evangelist, Holy Apostle and Martyr, that is in Egypt, Pentapolis, Libya, Nubia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and all Africa.” These patriarchs include Cyril IV, Cyril V, and Yohannes XIX.
Asuka Tsuji
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789774166631
- eISBN:
- 9781617976551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166631.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter presents a reading of the Arabic Life of Ibrahim al-Fani, a Coptic saint of the fourteenth century. It tells the story of his early life, sufferings, discipleship under Marqus al-Antuni, ...
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This chapter presents a reading of the Arabic Life of Ibrahim al-Fani, a Coptic saint of the fourteenth century. It tells the story of his early life, sufferings, discipleship under Marqus al-Antuni, and death. It discusses the date and purpose of the compilation of the life of that saint, and its literal, religious, and social implications. The Life of Ibrahim offers a glimpse of the Coptic experiences of the period and the distinct viewpoints of the clergy who sanctioned this Life. The text attests to the thriving monastic life during this particular era, when the monasteries of St. Antony and Abu Fana, and others, were filled with monks. This vibrant religious life is in stark contrast to the accounts of abandoned monasteries and destitute monks of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Finally, the Life points to an active Coptic community in Cairo despite the persecutions.Less
This chapter presents a reading of the Arabic Life of Ibrahim al-Fani, a Coptic saint of the fourteenth century. It tells the story of his early life, sufferings, discipleship under Marqus al-Antuni, and death. It discusses the date and purpose of the compilation of the life of that saint, and its literal, religious, and social implications. The Life of Ibrahim offers a glimpse of the Coptic experiences of the period and the distinct viewpoints of the clergy who sanctioned this Life. The text attests to the thriving monastic life during this particular era, when the monasteries of St. Antony and Abu Fana, and others, were filled with monks. This vibrant religious life is in stark contrast to the accounts of abandoned monasteries and destitute monks of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Finally, the Life points to an active Coptic community in Cairo despite the persecutions.
