Now, Mina....thanks for the scan. I have a ton of questions.
Here is the rough outline of what he is describing:
1-Bishop Takla of Dishna and its environs put this rite together in 1994 for the order of reading the Memre in order "to be harmonious…
Drew,
I completely agree. For starters, we read a lot of prophecies from Isaiah during Lent and there is St. Cyril's commentary on Isaiah. Knowing for a fact that Coptic ancient manuscripts of Biblical patristic commentaries are not lacking, I see …
Drew,
First, do you have more information about that commentary/commentaries? Even the title of the book might help.
Second, what do you mean? I guess it is true that a majority of patristic passages are attributed to Chrysostom, but what about a…
Faithful,
A memre (or Maymar as it is written often in Arabic) is a type of poetic exposition by one of the Fathers. It was a type of writing popularized by fathers of Syriac spirituality such as Ephrem the Syrian, Narsai, and Aphrahat. We have man…
The Hitens in general is a very recent development. You will not find them mentioned in any ritual sources prior to the 20th century. Theologically, they do not integrate well with the rest of the liturgy of the word and the theological purpose of t…
Rem,
My guess is that they are all referring to the canons of Athanasius that we talked about previously, which many erroneously attribute to Athanasius the Great.
Hello Faithful,
I meant to say that liturgy and vespers would compete for a time slot only during Lent, when the fasting lasts until sunset and communion has to be later as well.
Dear Faithful,
Thanks for the prayer! Allow me to share with you the little I was able to find.
In order to analyze the frequency of celebrating the Eucharist vis-a-vis other daily services (matins, vespers, hours) we have to begin by separating …
Faithful Servant,
I will write something God willing soon. What Minatasgeel said is essentially correct, I will just add to it some sources and background to fill in the picture. Hang on....Canon Law exams are demanding!
Before I go do research on Great Thursday, I want to ask something for clarification. Those who are calling for a melody change from the annual to festive, are they basically talking about the Doxologies and gospel responses? What are the exact elem…
I think Rem responded very well and summarized the main concerns in a very succinct way. Let me just add the following remarks.
1- I understand that this lecture was done in a pastoral context, not a scholarly one. I am not advocating that a simple…
Here are the issues that I found with Albair's lecture, divided to theology first, and history second. Of course, for all of us, the theological aspects of any issue under consideration are of much more importance, whereas historical aspects are onl…
The Sacramentary of Sarapion of Thmuis, which contains, in addition to the Eucharistic prayers, prayers for Baptism, ordination, unction, and burial, has been published in multiple places, including:
John Wordsworth (1899), Bishop Sarapion's Praye…
The question is, correct according to what criteria and what standards? If we are simply going off what cantors teach and are taught at cantor schools, then the common knowledge is that traditionally these hymns were reserved for Kiahk and Lent, whi…
Hi Mikhael,
Let me run through the evening with you and I will try to point out similarities with the Byzantine rite as much as I am aware. Since the priest said there will be praying of Hours until Tasbeha, I will try to cover all this ground:
1-…
Mikhael,
What tradition do you come from? Is it EO? Are you Greek, Antiochian, OCA?
I am asking because it will help me bridge for you some of the terminology and ritual similarities that may otherwise be lost on you just because we might call thi…
Yes. The Antiochian Orthodox Church is the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate in Syria. Not to be confused with the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, the Oriental Orthodox branch, whose patriarch is Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas and with whom we are in full comm…
Drew, you are almost correct.
Recent research has shown that in earlier sources (liturgical manuscripts, Abul-Barakat, Yuhanna ibn Sebaa...etc) the only acts responses mentioned are 1- Share Efnouti, 2- Tote Alethos 3- Any other image from the Sund…
Hello,
Allow me just to nuance some of the responses presented here so far.
We cannot assert that the three liturgies we now pray started out as Greek texts that were translated to Coptic. As with any science, all we have is the evidence. The evi…
At our parish, we have been translating and using these gospel responses for almost a year now. There is also a similar, 19th cent, English translation of Sunday gospel responses by Mallan which often differs from the MSS used in Bp. Samuel's book. …
Glad to be of help, Tony!
Liturgy is even more complex. There is liturgical history, theology, Patristics on the Eucharist, early Christian eucharistic texts, comparative rites....etc. There are all kinds of books on the general development of the …
Dear Amoussa,
I am afraid this article on coptichymns.net is overly simplistic to the point of being grossly misleading. Yes, the apostles prayed at specific times of day in accordance with Jewish custom, but this has little to do with our Coptic H…
Dear Andrew and George,
First, I wanted to echo George's remarks. My comments were not intended as a personal attack at Andrew, whom we all have known for years. Please excuse the strong language...it is merely meant to address an issue I feel stro…
Dear Andrew,
Again, forgive my strong language and perhaps I should clarify. I did not mean necessarily that you are robbing anyone of anything, but that the attitude expressed in your post does. It is an attitude that you are certainly not respons…
Drew,
Believe me, I am not trying to pick on you or engage in cyber-debate, but there are some points that need to be addressed:
Exploring and reflecting on the theology of the prayers is not nearly the same as debate, the kind that "we enjoy in t…
Drew, and others...
Yes, we do have many fraction prayers found and written only in Arabic (same with reconciliation prayers, and even prayers of the veil), and yes, some of these prayers may have been printed in recent, popular books like Mahaba K…
Very interesting....here are my thoughts:
1- It is clear that the church in Cleveland is unique, not just in terms of vestments, but also the architecture seems quite Byzantine (though admittedly with Coptic icons). I wonder if they built the churc…