Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 26 November 2023
pseudo-athanasius, coptic
Ibrahim Saweros Keywords: Athanasius of Alexandria, Coptic Literature, Pseudepigrapha, Coptic Church, Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria False attribution of Coptic texts to patristic authors is a remarkable phenomenon in coptic literature (see also: coptic literature: update). Of those authors, it is athanasius of Alexandria (ca. 296/298–2 May 373) who shines brightly enough to have almost forty texts falsely assigned to his authorship.1 The titles of these texts have been compiled twice: in print by Bernd Witte (Witte 2011: 394–395) and digitally by Tito Orlandi. These two lists were organized by language, so both include Athanasius’ original texts which were translated from Greek into Coptic, for instance The Life of Antony (cpg 2101). It is noteworthy that Coptic literature preserves more of the pseudo-texts of Athanasius than his genuinely translated ones. Pseudo-Athanasian texts can be divided into several categories depending on their content. Many pseudo-Athanasius texts are merely homilies based on certain Biblical quotations such as On Lazarus Whom Christ Raised from the Dead (cpg 2185; Bernardin 1940: 277–290). This sermon is a kind of text-based homily, marked by the wide use of typical rhetorical Greek devices which brought its Sahidic language to a very high level of formulation (Sheridan 2007: 30–31).
Another homily of the same type is On the Suffering of Christ Jesus and on Fear of the Judgment-place (cpg 2184; Bernardin 1937: 114–129), in which the author comments on several Biblical anecdotes that reflect the kindness of the Father. The author begins with the creation of Adam and then notes at his death how the Father grieved when burying Adam’s body. This homily also describes the sadness of the Father during the crucifixion of his Son in long well-written passages. A third example of pseudo-Athanasius homilies based on Scripture is On Luke 11: 5–9 (cpg 2194; Saweros 2019: 1:41–56, 2:33–47). In this narrative, from the title of this sermon, we are told that a group of people begged Athanasius to interpret the parable of the midnight friend. After a short introduction, Athanasius decided to present them with two levels of commentary: a material explanation of the text and another spiritual and symbolic one on the same parable. This homily contains certain ideas influenced by the so-called Coptic Catenae (de Lagarde 1886: 142–145). On Pentecost is the longest pseudo-Athanasian Bible-based homily (cpg 2192; Saweros 2019: 1:57–82, 2:49–74). It is divided into four themes: warnings against sins, the Christian household, wealth and poverty, and proper behavior in the Church. Each theme is marked by lengthy Biblical quotations. This homily is entirely a paraenetic speech, with no storytelling.
On Soul and Body (cpg 2004; Orlandi 2003: 12–40) is another pseudo-Athanasian homiletic text in which the anecdote of Christ descending to hell is well explained. On Matthew 20: 1–16 (cpg 2181; Budge 1910: 80–89, 226–234) is another example for text-based homilies, in which the anonymous author carefully interprets the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Separate from the homilies related to the Bible, there are few homilies connecting Athanasius with the Pachomian monastic communities in Upper Egypt (Veilleux 1980: 51, 317). One appears in a single fragment (van der Vliet 1992: 25–26) and the other is preserved completely in On Murder and Greed and on Michael, the Archangel (cpg 2191; Saweros 2019: 1:17–40, 2:13–31). In the latter, Athanasius appears as the preacher and main actor in the events. Several marvels narrated in the homily reflect cooperation between the official Church represented by © Claremont Graduate University 1 I. Saweros, Pseudo-Athanasius, Coptic 26 November 2023 Athanasius and the monastic movement presented by pachomius, in addition to highlighting Pachomius’ holiness and Athanasius’ humility.
Pseudo-encomiums are also attributed to Athanasius. Coptic literature mostly connects his name with the two archangels Michael and Gabriel (cpg 2197; Saweros 2019: 1:3–15, 2:1–12). These encomiums give reasons for the celebration dates for the archangels, encourage the congregation to visit their chapels, and recount some miracles that occur on their feast eve. On Leviticus 21:9 (cpg 2195; Martinez 1985: 285–456) is an apocalypse in which Athanasius foretells the Arab conquest of Egypt coming about as a direct result of the grave sins of priests and monks. In Coptic liturgy, a sermon attributed to Athanasius is recited on the eleventh hour of Holy Friday. This short text (Burmester 1932: 66) encourages listeners to bind themselves to God’s law. The aforementioned texts do not form a single corpus attributed to a certain author, and they can be called an Athanasian literary cycle only with much caution (Orlandi 1991b: 666–667; Saweros 2017: 138–151), as each is an independent text in sources, genre, purpose, and date. When examining false attributions, in some cases the name of Athanasius only appears in the title, as in On Pentecost, and he plays no role in the text itself. This gives the impression that the homily was circulated anonymously, and at a certain point the name of Athanasius was added to lend it a better reputation. This might have happened during a time of haste, for instance, while copying texts under the difficult circumstances after the Arab conquest.
Other texts that may support this theory are The Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Kuhn 1957: 226), which circulated under the name of Athanasius only in Bohairic, while their Sahidic versions lack a named author. The Sahidic version of On Body and Soul is attributed to Athanasius, while its Syriac version is assigned to his predecessor alexander of Alexandria (Budge 1910: xlv–xlix). The final example is the Apocalypse of Paul, which circulated as a pseudo-Athanasian text in its Arabic version (Lanzillotta and van der Vliet 2023: 411). In all cases the text was composed first, and its false attribution was a later addition (Schneider 2017: 123).
The genre of this collection varies considerably, but this is unsurprising as Coptic scribes generally do not differentiate their terminology in labeling any work. Terms like homily, encomium, life, ascetic acts, and martyrdom replace each other freely (Sheridan 2007: 28–29). This collection is marked by long paraenetic speeches, and every text presents more than one theme and genre. For example, in On Murder and Greed and on Michael, the Archangel there are praises to the archangels and the archimandrite Pachomius, marvels narrated by Athanasius, and commentaries on the monastic life in Upper Egypt. I avoid discussing composition dates for every text since each one went through a long journey of transmission during which it was edited and reedited several times; consequently, every text deserves its own long case study. But none of them are historically close in date to the time of Athanasius. The purpose for composing all these texts is to facilitate their inclusion into liturgy. The texts concerning Biblical anecdotes were composed for the major feasts of the liturgical year (Bernardin 1937: 114), and the others about the angels fit with their annual celebrations.
The sources used by the anonymous writers who prepared these texts are very diverse. In addition to the Bible, apocryphal texts are quoted: for example, The Life of Adam and Eve (Stone 1993: 148–149) is quoted in On Michael and Gabriel. The Gospel according to the Hebrews (Ehrman and Pleše 2011: 216–222) is quoted in Luke 11:5–9. Other pseudo-Coptic writings are quoted as well, such as On Gabriel attributed to Celestinus of Rome (Worrell 1923: 351–356), and On Riches and on Michael, the Archangel attributed to Peter of Alexandria (Pearson and Vivian 1993: 68–93) is also quoted in On Michael and Gabriel. In addition, historical sources which are Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 2 I. Saweros, Pseudo-Athanasius, Coptic 26 November 2023 rarely attested elsewhere in Coptic literature, such as The Jewish Antiquities of Flavius Josephus (Marqus 1934: 174–185) and the Physiologus (Suciu 2014: 681–683), are quoted.
To make those texts livelier and connect them more firmly with the alleged author, three stages of Athanasius’ life were adapted: the archbishop of Alexandria and the archimandrite of Upper Egypt Pachomius support each other; Athanasius faces the Arians with all available means; and Athanasius as the major hero of the Nicene council. Choosing these anecdotes may refer to the changes that happened in the Coptic Church itself as that church started to think about and rebuild itself as an independent national church after being shocked by the conclusions of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the Arab Conquest of 642 (Orlandi 1991a: 1457–1478).
This collection of texts can also be understood in a different way in light of the new advancement of memory studies methodology (Saweros 2021: 187–201). Athanasius’ personality was intentionally reformed through time in the memory of the Copts, like the Coptic Church itself. We barely notice any high-level theological debate in these texts; thus, Athanasius as a theologian is no longer required. In them he is reformed and presented as a kind of simple monk who preaches on spiritual issues and recounts marvelous stories (Gwynn 2011: 44–46). Coptic literature produced in the monastic milieu generally portrayed Athanasius in this way. He is looked to as the Church’s defender against heresies, yet at the same time nothing is said to explain those heretical beliefs. He invites his audience to attach itself to himself and the Church without taking any trouble to explain why they should. The pseudo-Athanasian texts are a tool to reformulate Athanasius’s personality in a certain way that fit the newly established national Coptic Church and to witness to such reform at the same time. While it is difficult to study all the conditions of producing this collection of texts, they continue to be faithful evidence to the living Coptic past that still has its wide influence on the Coptic Church until today.