Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 29 January 2016
dayr al-muharraq, liturgy of
Youhanna Nessim Youssef Keywords: Liturgies, Prayers, Monasteries, Coptic language, Greek language, Hymns The Monastery of al-muharraq has special peculiarities in its liturgical practice. The term for hymns is Luhūnāt instead of Alhan, which is commonly used in all manuscripts found elsewhere.
Fig. 1 Fig. 2 As for musical instruments, the monks of the Monastery of al-Muharraq use another instrument called sanj (Figs. 1-2) in addition to the traditional naqus (or daff) and the triangle.
There are also some oral traditions that had never been recorded before and are unique to this monastery. For example, when the priest blesses the people, he turns to the left (which is the right of the altar); the same could be said for the opening of the curtain of the altar. G. Viaud studied the procession of the Feast of the Cross (Viaud 1967-1968: 211-226) where he noted several peculiarities such as a station near the tomb of Musa.
Y.N. Youssef highlighted the importance of the doxology of the consecration of the sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary at al-Muharraq (Youssef 2009: 72-92). The liturgy in this monastery is characterised by four features:
1) Local hagiographical tradition by adding the names of many local saints (see below). 2) The presence of the Holy Family in the place: this is represented by the commemoration on 6 Hatur (transliterated Hatûr) when there is a special rite unique to the monastery, the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family to Egypt, which includes special stations in the rite of the Palm Sunday. The consecration of the Church of the Virgin Mary on 6 Hatur has a special rite in the Ethiopian church.
3) The rite for the Nile: This rite is performed on the feast of the Cross (17 Tût) where the priest offers incense at the summit point reached by the latest flood.
4) Survival of the Greek language: The region of asyut (transliterated Asyūt), in general and the Monastery of al-Muharraq in particular preserved the Greek language for a long time. The Manuscripts of the Basilian Anaphora in Greek came from the Asyut region such as the City of Abnub (Budde 2004: 85-88). There is also an Ode of Kiyahk (Youssef 2013: 226-237) and a hymn for the Nativity eve. There are stanzas in Greek and others in Sahidic. The hymn “Your Star Appeared” is attested in the Manuscript 106 Liturgy. This manuscript is the narration of the rite of the concoction of the myron that took place under the patriarchate of Gabriel IV, who before his ordination was a monk in the Monastery of al-© 2016 Claremont Graduate University Y.N. Youssef, Dayr al-Muharraq Muharraq. His brother was also a monk from the same monastery (Youssef and Zanetti 2014: 98-100).
The turūhāt of 6 Hatur on the consecration of the Church of Qusqam (transliterated Qusqām) are sung in tune Batos. They start by evoking the Psalms 45:9, 84:1, and 118: 20; then invite the audience to rejoice that Christ consecrated this church and named it for the God-Bearer Mary.
The Turuhat adam recalls the Vision of Theophilus by giving details of the rite of consecration such as the consecration of the sanctuary and the altar instruments. It is important to highlight the terms of consecration: the title bears agiasmos, (consecration) while in the rest of both texts we have xirodonin (ordination).
The synaxarion commemorates the consecration of the church of al-Muharraq by these words: “On that day also The Lord Christ assembled with His disciples in the mount of Qusqam and consecrated the sanctuary and the church with His pure hands. He signed the Church and the altar in the name of the Virgin Mary, His mother, and by the hand of the angels Michael and Gabriel. Our good Saviour consecrated the vessel of water according to what was testified by father Theophilus the patriarch and father Cyril. And this place will not perish till the end of ages according to the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the intercession of all be with us! Amen.” (Forget 1963: 92).
It is noteworthy that the consecration with water was a practice specific to Upper Egypt (Coquin 1993: 50 note 61). The text refers to the patriarchs theophilus and cyril I, while the short text of the Synaxarion contains several details about the source of this text, Theophilus, Cyril, and a local practice about the consecration of the Church. The psalis did not give any extra information regarding the consecration of the sanctuary and even the name of Qusqam is not mentioned.
There are two late Psalis for the consecration of the sanctuary of Qusqam as it is apparent from: 1) the use of other liturgical texts, 2) no allusion to the Vision of Theophilus or any patristic text, 3) no geographical data (compared to the psali of the entry of Jesus to Egypt), and 4) there are many grammatical inaccuracies.
While the mention of Qusqam is absent from the antiphonary of Upper Egypt (Cramer and Krause 2008: 319), there is a doxology for 6 Hatur contained in Paris Copte 123 (Youssef 2009: 72-92).
The Manuscript Paris Arabe 4779 (fol. 75v-77r) of the Synaxarion (Troupeau 1974: 30), which was copied in the Monastery of al-Muharraq by the monk Yūhannā al-Atlīmīdī, reported the biography of a virtuous abbot father Hegumen ‘Abd al-Malak.
It is amazing that gabriel iv, the first patriarch elected from the Monastery of al-Muharraq, is not mentioned in this Synaxarion (he rested on 3 Bashans).
The Manuscript Paris Arabe 4779 was copied during the abbotship of the successor of the second one, the text uses a far past, hence the first one is meant.
6 Hatur (fol. 84v-85r) “On this day the Saviour assembled with this disciple in Qusqam and performed the first liturgy according to what was witnessed by Saint Theophilus and Saint Cyril. It was a great day with the assembly of our Lord * with his mother and his disciples and consecrated this place with his sublime hand, to whom is the glory forever and may his mercy endure for eternity. Amen.”
The Sahidic version of the Synaxarion according to the Manuscript Paris Arabe 4869 commemorates on 20 Kiyahk the martyrdom of Elias bishop of al-Muharraq during the time of Arianus. His body was hidden until the time of our father Constantine bishop of Asyut so his body was translated to Assyut and when Cusia was rebuilt the saint appeared to a merchant asking him to return his body to Cusia. And when the merchant arrived in Asyut he took the body and nobody prevented him according to the promise of the saint. According to Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 2 Y.N. Youssef, Dayr al-Muharraq the Synaxarion, his body is kept in the Monastery of Muharraq (Forget, 1963: 345-347). The Monastery of al-Muharraq possesses an additional list of saints commemorated in the monastery who are related to the region of Upper and Middle Egypt:
1) Isidorus and Sana (18 Baramhāt) (o’leary 1937: 160, 257).
2) Olympious of Caw (30 Tūbah) (Coquin 1978: 361; Lefort 1950: 1-23).
3) macrobius of dayr al-ganadlah.
4) dioscorus and asklepios (Aesculapius) (o’leary 1937: 124-125) 5) hermina (Muyser 1943: 159-236)