Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 29 July 2021 epiphanius (1954-2018), bishop of dayr anba maqar (2013-2018) Ibrahim Saweros Keywords: Apophthegmata Patrum; Biblical Studies; Bishop Epiphanius; Bishops; Christian Arabic Heritage; Contemporary Egypt; Coptic Church; Coptic Liturgy; Dayr Anba Maqar; Father Matta al-Miskeen; Monasticism.
Tadrus Zaki Tadrus was born on 27 June 1954 to a middle-class family living in the city of Tanta, in the heart of the Egyptian Nile Delta. His father, Zaki Tadrus, was a well-known servant-leader of the Church of saint george at al-Hamrah in Tanta, quite near the family’s residence. The late bishop Yuʾannis (1923-1987) appointed Zaki Tadrus a member of the administrative committee of his church, which was considered an honor and a reward for the church’s best servants at that time. The young Tadrus grew up in the same atmosphere and, like his father, became a good servant in the church. From his early adulthood, Tadrus was very fond of reading, and he became responsible for the church library. As a new servant, his mission was to guide those of his age and younger to read the various religious books that were available at that time. As an excellent student in his high school, he was qualified to enroll at the faculty of medicine in Tanta. After his graduation in 1978, Tadrus became a specialist in otorhinolaryngology. He practiced as a physician in several state hospitals in the Delta and in Sohag in Upper Egypt.
During his university years, Tadrus spent several retreats in the monasteries of wadi al-naṭrun. For some reason, dayr anba maqar (saint macarius Monastery) captured his heart. Tadrus was surprised to find the old monks of that monastery so satisfied and cheerful, despite the hard work they had done to revive the historic monastery (Monks 2018: 35-36). At Dayr Anba Maqar, Tadrus met the late father matta al-miskeen for the first time. This holy monk would have the greatest influence on Tadrus for the rest of his life. After several visits to Dayr Anba Maqar in the early 1980s, Tadrus had a chance to spend holy week at the monastery and to listen directly to Fr. Matta’s well-prepared sermons. Fr. Matta drew Tadrus’s attention to the importance of Coptic liturgical hymns (see coptic music) and how to perform them. This issue had a positive influence on Tadrus, who devoted some of his servantship time to a review of Coptic music in Tanta.
During his visit to the monastery in 1984, one of the elder monks advised him frankly that Saint Macarius was welcoming him to dedicate his life to Christ if he wished. It took Tadrus only a week to make his final decision to become a monk at Dayr Anba Maqar. He quit his job, made a complete break with everything that connected him to the outside world, and entered the monastery © Claremont Graduate University 1 Ibrahim Saweros, Bishop Epiphanius (1954-2018) 29 July 2021 as a novice during Lent of the same year. All the elder monks noticed the grace of God in his face and behavior. Their new brother helped the older monks as a physician and also served as the monastery’s veterinarian, in addition to his main interest in research. After only a few weeks, Fr. Matta recommended that Tadrus receive the monastic garments and gave him the name Epiphanius. Epiphanius became the librarian of both the monastery’s modern library and its manuscript library. He served as the faithful guardian of the heritage of this historic monastery for decades.
Due to his fidelity, Epiphanius was chosen in 2002 to become a priest by the monastery’s abbot, the late metropolitan Mikhail of asyuṭ (1921-2014). Personally, Epiphanius had adopted the point of view of St. pachomius that monks should not accept priesthood (Veilleux 1980: 51-52). He later explained this change of heart by saying that he had to accept priesthood in order to help the late Fr. Kyrillos al-Maqary, feeling sympathy towards him as an old, sick man. Fr. Kyrillos (1927-2012) was one of the very few monks of Dayr Anba Maqar who were ordained as priests to administer the sacraments. Father Epiphanius considered him one of his spiritual fathers and guides. Epiphanius continued his fruitful work at the monastery as a physician and librarian. Later on, Fr. Matta asked him to supervise the monastery’s financial accounts, a job that required the highest level of confidentiality. He also accompanied Fr. Matta during his journeys abroad for special medical treatment for his numerous illnesses.
Soon after pope Tawadros II was enthroned on 18 November 2012, and as part of his reorganization, he decided to ordain a bishop for Dayr Anba Maqar from among its monks. It was a rarity for Coptic monks to be invited to choose their abbot in a democratic way. Epiphanius received the highest number of votes and was also recommended by Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut. On 10 March 2013, Epiphanius became the first bishop to be ordained by Pope Tawadros II (Madrasat al-Iskandariyya 2018: 33-34).
After ordination, Epiphanius continued to live in his same humble cell at the monastery. He kept his monastic way of living and had no special car or special garments; he even chose not to carry a shepherd’s staff [See liturgical insignia], as is the custom for Coptic bishops. People who did not know him would hardly know that he was a bishop. He looked like any other poor monk of his age.
Since he was a well-educated man, familiar with several ancient and modern languages including English, greek, coptic, and Hebrew, he represented the Coptic Church on many occasions. He attended international meetings and congresses on behalf of Pope Tawadros II. Twice he was the official representative of the Coptic Church at the St. Egidio Community for Peace in Rome. In 2015, Bishop Epiphanius gave a lecture there entitled “Martyrs: The New Face of Christianity.” He represented the Coptic Church at the congress of the Benedictine Abbots held at Saint Anselm Monastery in Rome in 2016. Bishop Epiphanius was the best ambassador of the Coptic Church all over the globe, due to his deep knowledge of the copts and their heritage. Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 2 Ibrahim Saweros, Bishop Epiphanius (1954-2018) 29 July 2021 Inside Egypt, Bishop Epiphanius represented the Coptic Church as a trustee of the Saint Mark Foundation for Coptic History Studies1 and was a trustee of the Center for Coptic Studies at Bibliotheca Alexandrina.2 In both institutions, his mission was to advance Coptic Studies and to encourage young scholars.
Bishop Epiphanius’s contribution to the study of Coptic liturgy is quite remarkable. He attended the international association for coptic studies congress in Rome in 2012, where he gave a paper about the morning adam doxologies (Almacary 2016). He translated the euchologion of the white monastery from Coptic into Arabic and commented on its contents and language (Epiphanius 2014). He re-edited the three Coptic Anaphoras according to the well-known Kacmarcik Codex and added many commentaries to the text from the point of view of a modern Coptic bishop (Epiphanius 2017a). His greatest contribution to the field of Coptic Studies was a new edition of the book paradise of the monks. For this edition he consulted all available versions in Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Latin, and Arabic, further enriched by seven unpublished manuscripts from his monastery. He numbered every saying of the monastic fathers, put them in order, and then added several accurate indices (Epiphanius 2013). This work is his best piece of writing and the best version of the Paradise of the Monks ever published in Arabic.
Bishop Epiphanius also contributed to the field of Biblical studies. He published the texts of Genesis and Exodus according to the Greek Septuagint, with a new critical Arabic translation and short comments (Epiphanius 2012a; 2012b). He also edited some texts of bulus al-bushi and buṭrus al-sidmanti (Epiphanius 2016; 2017b) from the Christian Arabic heritage (see copto-arabic literature), in addition to writing a large number of spiritual articles.3 Overall, Epiphanius was a comprehensive writer. He understood the very local heritage of his church, which helped him to represent it in ecumenical dialogue with other churches. Early in the morning of Sunday 29 July 2018, at the time of the Holy eucharist, Bishop Epiphanius was found dead; he had been murdered on his way from his cell to the church within his monastery. Not long afterward, two young monks from Saint Macarius Monastery were suspected to be the bishop’s killers. In May 2021, one of them was executed according to Egyptian law, and the other was sentenced to prison for 25 years.
In the five short years of his episcopate, Bishop Epiphanius managed to make a large difference in his monastery, his Church, and for generations to come. He was simple and humble, serious and a hard worker, thinker, and man of prayer. He refused to be honored as a bishop within his monastery. Bishop Epiphanius did not allow anyone to chant processional episcopal entrance hymns for him while entering the church, to kneel before him, or to call him “sayedna” (our master). These usual Coptic ways to honor a bishop were the only issues that could anger this calm man. Indeed, Bishop Epiphanius gave us an example of a perfect bishop-monk, scholar, preacher, and reformer.