The Life and Works of Severus of Antioch in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic Tradition: Texts and Commentaries 9781463226510

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The Life and Works of Severus of Antioch in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic Tradition

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies

28 Series Editors George Anton Kiraz István Perczel Lorenzo Perrone Samuel Rubenson

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies brings to the scholarly world the underrepresented field of Christianity as it developed in the Eastern hemisphere. This series consists of monographs, edited collections, texts and translations of the documents of Eastern Christianity, as well as studies of topics relevant to the world of historic Orthodoxy and early Christianity.

The Life and Works of Severus of Antioch in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic Tradition

Texts and Commentaries

Youhanna Youssef

9

34 2014

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2014 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2014

‫ܛ‬

9

ISBN 978-1-61719-738-3

ISSN 1539-1507

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Youssef, Youhanna Nessim. The life and works of Severus of Antioch in the Coptic and Copto-Arabic tradition : texts and commentaries / Youhanna N. Youssef. pages cm. -- (Gorgias Eastern Christian studies, ISSN 1539-1507 ; 28) Includes bibliographical references. In English, Arabic, and Coptic. Original texts in Greek. ISBN 978-1-61719-738-3 1. Severus, of Antioch, approximately 465-538. 2. Coptic Church. 3. Christians--Arab Countries. I. Severus, of Antioch, approximately 465-538. Selections. Coptic. II. Severus, of Antioch, approximately 465-538. Selections. Arabic. III. Severus, of Antioch, approximately 465-538. Selections. English. IV. Title. BR65.S3956Y68 2014 270.2092--dc23 2014031566

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife Marie-Therese and my daughters Julie and Jacqueline

To my colleagues in the Centre for Early Christian Studies headed by Professor Pauline Allen

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................. ix Introduction ............................................................................................. xi Part I ......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I. A Quotation from a Work Related to Severus of Antioch .................................................... 3 Chapter II. Severus of Antioch in Scetis ........................................... 11 Chapter III. Severus of Antioch in the History of the Patriarchs ................................................ 35 Chapter IV. A Contribution to the Coptic Biography of Severus of Antioch ................................................................ 61 Part II ....................................................................................................... 81 Chapter I. The Coptic Catena on the Four Gospels According to Severus of Antioch............................................. 83 Chapter II. Arabic Manuscripts of the Philalethes of Severus of Antioch ..............................................................119 Chapter III. A Coptic Version of the Homily 28 of Severus of Antioch ..............................................................127 Chapter IV. The Coptic Marian homilies of Severus of Antioch ..............................................................135 Chapter V. Fragments of the Coptic Version of the Sixtieth Homily of Severus of Antioch......................153 Chapter VI. Notes on the Traditions Concerning the Trisagion ........................................................157 Chapter VII. Coptic Fragment of a Letter of Severus of Antioch ..........................................169 Chapter VIII. A Letter of Severus of Antioch to Anastasia the Deaconess .....................................................177 Chapter IX. Some Patristic Quotations of Severus of Antioch in Coptic and Arabic Texts .....................................................195 vii

viii

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH

Chapter X. The Quotations of Severus of Antioch in the Book of the Professions of the Fathers .............................205 Part III...................................................................................................267 Chapter I. Text Attributed to Severus of Antioch on the Thief ...............................................................................269 Chapter II. The Homily on the Archangel Michael Attributed to Severus of Antioch Revisited .........................289 Chapter III. Recommendations to the Priests Severus of Antioch or Severus of Ashmunain .....................305 Chapter IV. The Encomium of St Philotheus, Ascribed to Severus of Antioch .............................................317 Chapter V. The Pseudo Severi ..........................................................377 Part IV ....................................................................................................383 Chapter I. Severus of Antioch in the Coptic Liturgical Books ....385 Chapter II The Role of Severus of Antioch in the Dialogue between Greek, Coptic and Syriac Cultures .........................395 Chapter III. Severus of Antioch as Seen by Modern Coptic Historians .................................................417 Bibliography ..........................................................................................429

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Duty bound as I am, I hereby acknowledge my deep gratitude to the publishers and the learned societies for their kind permission to use my articles which appeared in their publications. Wherever necessary, corrections and additions to the original manuscript have been made. Part I was published in the following publications: Chapter 1. “An new fragment of a life of Severus of Antioch,” Oriens Christianus 88 (2004) 109–114. Chapter 2. “Severus of Antioch in Scetis,” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 43 (2006) 141–162. Chapter 3. “Severus of Antioch in the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church,” Parole de l’Orient 28 (2003) 435–458. Chapter 4. “A contribution to the Coptic Biography of Severus of Antioch,” Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millenium: Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies — Leinden, August 27–September 2.2000, ed. M. Immerzell and J. Van der Vliet, Orientalia Lovensiensa Analecta 133, Leuven 2004, p. 413–426. Part II was published in the following publications: Chapter 1. “The Coptic catena on the four gospels according to Severus of Antioch I. the gospel of Matthew,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 43 (2004) 95–120. Chapter 2. “Arabic Manuscripts of the Philalethes of Severus of Antioch,” Proche Orient Chrétien 51 (2001) 261–266. Chapter 3. “A Coptic version of the Homily 28 of Severus of Antioch,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 43 (2004) 121– 126. Chapter 4. “The Coptic Marian homilies of Severus of Antioch,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 43 (2004) 127–140. ix

x

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH

Chapter 5. “Fragments of the Coptic version of the Sixtieth homily of Severus of Antioch,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 43 (2004) 141–144. Chapter 6. “Notes on the traditions concerning the Trisagion,” Parole de l’Orient 29 (2004) 147–159. Chapter 7. “Coptic fragment of a letter of Severus of Antioch,” Oriens Christianus 87 (2003) 116–122. Chapter 8. “Letter of Severus of Antioch to Anastasia the Deaconess,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie 40 (2001) 126– 136. Chapter 9. “Some Patristic quotations from Severus of Antioch in Coptic and Arabic texts,” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 40 (2003) 238–247. Chapter 10. “The quotations of Severus of Antioch in the Book of the Confessions of the Fathers” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 40 (2003) 178–229. Part III was published in the following publications: Chapter 1. “An Arabic text attributed to Severus of Antioch on the Robber,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie 41 (2002) 53–69. Chapter 2. “The homily on the Archangel Michael attributed to Severus of Antioch — revisited,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie 42 (2003) 103–117. Chapter 3. “Recommendations to the Priests. Severus of Antioch or Severus of Ashmunain,” Journal of Coptic Studies 4 (2002) 187–195. Chapter 4. “The Homily on St Philotheus ascribed to Severus of Antioch,” Coptica 1 (2002) 169–221. Chapter 5. “The pseudo Severii,” Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte 45 (2006) 147–151. Part IV was published in the following publications: Chapter 1. “Severus of Antioch in the Coptic Liturgical books,” Journal of Coptic Studies 6 (2004) 141–150. Chapter 2. “The role of Severus of Antioch in the dialogue between Greek, Coptic and Syriac cultures,” Parole de l’Orient 31 (2006) 163–184. Chapter 3. “Severus of Antioch seen by Modern Coptic historians,” Coptic Church Review 23/4 (2003) 98–106.

INTRODUCTION This volume contains twenty-four studies, some written as early as 2000 and published over the last decade. They are framed by studies in the field of Coptic and Copto-Arabic patristics and liturgy. The first group consists of the fruits of my research on the life of Severus of Antioch. I first encountered Severus when I joined the centre for Early Christian Studies in 1999 for a project on “Bishops in Late Antiquity” for which I was asked to translate the extracts of Catenae on the Gospels attributed to Severus. I quickly became absorbed by his writings. The subject needed to be tackled differently than Julius of Akfahs (my PhD thesis). While Julius is not widely known and his corpus not defined, Severus by contrast is well established historically, by both his opponents and his supporters both of whom consider him one of the best interpreters of the Bible. His theological positions are accepted as Orthodox since the pioneering studies of Mgr Lebon. His fame became so great that many apocryphal texts were attributed to him. Despite the differing style and ideas of these texts from the authentic texts we consider them as reflecting veneration to Severus and the social-political-historical context of their time. The last part of this book relates to the veneration of this saint in the Coptic Church. It is my pleasure to thank all who helped me for the achievement of this study. Professor Pauline Allen, director of the centre for Early Christianity who opened my eyes to understand Severus’ deep thoughts, my colleague Wendy Mayer who helped with many references relating to the city of Antioch. My colleague Kathleen Hay read some of the articles and suggested many improvements, Mr. John Cawte kindly helped in correcting some English text and cousin father Antonius Kaldas and Samuel Kaldas who read the whole book and corrected the English language. xi

xii

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH

I am indebted to the personnel of the library, especially Sarah Howard, who used all her talents to acquire many manuscripts. The Society for Coptic Archaeology helped me in my scientific career in Egypt, especially Mr Amin Fakhry Abd al-Nour and Mr Wassif Boutros Ghali. Professor Bernard Mathieu, former director of the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale for his kind permission to publish Homily 14 and use resources from the Library. My friend Catherine Louis was kind enough to provide me with information about the Coptic Manuscripts of the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale. The abbots of the Coptic monasteries H.G. Bishop Mattheos and H.G. Bishop Justus who kindly gave me the permission to study some of the manuscripts. The librarians of the Coptic collections, Rev. Father Bigoul al-Suriani librarian of the Monastery of al-Surian and Rev. Father Tadros al-Antony, Rev Fr Ephiphanius al-Maqari who facilitated my task. Madam Samiha and Mr Gamal Hermina from the Coptic museum helped me consult some of the manuscripts of this collection. My friend Ibrahim Attalah helped me in computer design. Last but not the least, (but only by chronological order), I wish to thank also the editor of the collection and the publisher Dr George Kiraz who accepted this text for publication.

PART I

1

CHAPTER I A QUOTATION FROM A WORK RELATED TO SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH The corpus of texts related to Severus of Antioch has recently started to attract the attention of several scholars, among them, Proverbio. In a recent article Enzo Lucchesi has suggested that many texts have been published and not identified as belonging to the Severian corpus.1 Coptic literature resembles several sets of puzzles that are mixed together and identification must take place piece by piece. This article, like my previous efforts, does not pretend to be the final word on the Copto-Arabic Severian corpus. After the publication of my book on the Arabic life of Severus of Antioch, I came across this quotation, which belongs to a work of Severus of Antioch.

INTRODUCTION The Coptic text mentioned below has a parallel known from the book of the Professions of the Fathers.2 This book is a later compilation of patristic texts, containing extracts of the works of the great theologians of the Coptic Church up until the Canons of the patriarch Christodulus (†1077AD),3 which had been anonymously compiled by the eleventh century.4

E. Lucchesi, 2006, p. 14. After the publication of my article, my friend Professor Adel Sidarus suggested that it would be better to translate the word “I’tiraf” as “profession” not “confession”. I am grateful for his suggestion. 3 Aziz S. Atiya, Yassa Abd Al-Masih, Burmester, 1959, pp. 166–168 (text), p. 250–254 (Translation). Burmester, 1932, p. 71–83. 4 Graf, 1944, p. 418, 1947, p. 321–323 N°104. 1 2

3

4

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH

G. Graf, in his study, argued that this compilation was done from a Coptic original,5 and Coquin agreed with this point of view.6 Several manuscripts of this important work have survived. In addition to those mentioned in Graf’s article, the following manuscripts may be cited: the Patriarchal Library Ms 188 Theol,7 Ms 364 Theol,8 Ms 189 Theol.9 Three manuscripts in the monastery of al-Muharraq 11/3, 11/4, 11/5 dated 1785 Ad, 1795.10 Another copy is located in the monastery of Saint Macarius.11

THE MANUSCRIPT The description by Crum Ms 3581A (45) B 2 b:12 A short fragment from a homily by Severus of Antioch (?) the head line being abba se[ ] The following passage of the text treating of the relations of the persons in the Trinity. 3a The end of a Homily apparently that last described b A homily beginning peèaw nqi {pepis}kopos nan{tioxia. It dealt with the same subject as the forgoing text. It was only 22 lines long and an extract from a homily.

The same part is also known in the Arabic life of Severus of Antioch.

Graf, 1937, p. 349–354. Coquin, 1993, p. 35–106 and especially p. 77. 7 For this library we have two catalogues: Simaika, and Yassa Abd alMasih, 1942, p. 151–152. Graf, 1934, p. 238. 8 Not mentioned in Simaika or Graf. 9 Simaika and Yassa abd al-Masih, 1942, p. 171, Graf, 1934, p. 238. 10 Monks from al Moharraq, 2002, p. 427. 11 Zanetti, 1986, p. 56. 12 Crum, 1905, p. 99a 217. 5 6

A QUOTATION FROM A WORK British fragment

Profession of the Fathers13

5

The Arabic life of Severus of Antioch14

‫طبيعة واحدة‬

oyfysis noyvt oyoysia noyvt

‫جوهر واحد‬

‫جوهر واحد‬

oymntèoeis noyvt

‫ربوبية واحدة‬

‫ربوبية واحدة‬

oydojologia noyvt eyémée nay nàhts àn tpe ayv àièm pkaà eyoyvét noymntnoyte noyvt àn éomnt nran

‫سجدة واحدة تسبحة‬ ‫واحده كما تعرتف‬ ‫الناس املومنون‬

‫سجدة اعرتاف واحد‬

enàomologei mpeivt àn tdajis ntmnteivt noyéhre an pe

‫ونعرتف باالب ىف رتبة‬ ‫االبوه وليس هو ابن‬

‫ جيب ان‬15‫هكذا‬ ‫يكون اعرتاف املومن‬ ‫نعرتف ان االب يف‬ ‫طقس االبوية وليس‬ ‫هو ابن‬

ayv enpisteye epéhre àn ttajis ntmntéhre noyeivt an pe

‫واالبن يف طقس البنوة واالبن ىف رتبة البنوه‬ ‫وليس هو اب‬ ‫وليس هو اب‬

Youhanna Nessim Youssef, 2003, 178–229. Youhanna Nessim Youssef, 2004, p. [76–77] 440–441. 15 p. — ‫هكذى‬ 13 14

6

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH British fragment

Profession of the Fathers13

The Arabic life of Severus of Antioch14

enàomolgei mpePNA etoyaab àn ttajis mpePNA etoyaab

‫والروح القدس ىف رتبة‬ ‫والروح القدس روح‬ ‫قدس منبثق من االب االنبتاق وليس هو اب‬ ‫وال ابن‬

nwoytew an eymnteivt oyde oymntéhre

‫بل تلتة اقانيم دامية‬ ‫متوحدة بالهوت واحد‬ ‫ىف الطبيعة والقوة‬ ‫واالرادة‬

One nature

…One Nature

….one nature,

One substance

one substance,

one substance,

One Lordship. One praise. They are worshipped in Heaven and on Earth, they are prostrated to the One divinity in three names

one lordship, one lordship, and worshipping one, one confession praising one, as worship.17 the faithful people confess.

We confess the Father in the rank of Fatherhood, He is not a Son

We confess that the Father is in the rank of the Fatherhood. He is not the Son.

‫ الينتقل اىل‬16‫فالبن‬ ‫االبوية وال االب اىل‬ ‫البنوة‬

The faithful should confess thus: We confess that the Father is in the rank of Fatherhood He is not a Son.

A — ‫واالبن‬ It seems that there is an error in the Arabic text. It is very difficult to understand. 16 17

A QUOTATION FROM A WORK British fragment

Profession of the Fathers13

The Arabic life of Severus of Antioch14

And we believe the Son in the rank of Sonship and He is not a Father

And the Son is in the rank of the Sonship. And He is not the Father.

The Son is in the rank of Sonship and He is not a Father.

We confess the Holy Spirit in the rank of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, is in the rank of the procession. He is neither the Father nor the Son

The Holy Spirit is a holy spirit that proceeds from the Father.

It shall not change to the Fatherhood or the Sonship.

but Three permanent united Persons, one Divinity in nature, power, will and glory and each Person stands by his own.

The Son shall not change to Fatherhood nor the Father shall not change to Sonship.

7

COMMENTARY What could this Coptic text be?  It is clear that none of the parallel passages are identical to each other, although the book of the Professions of the Fathers is closer to the Coptic text.  The length of this Coptic text is only few lines, showing that we are clearly dealing with a compilation of the works of Severus rather than a fragment of a life.  The theological sections, which are scattered in the life, are gathered in these fragments, suggesting that the scribe intended to present a theological work rather than a biographical work.

8

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH  This section is also considered by Shams al-Riaysah Abû alBarakât Ibn Kabar (†1324 AD)18 as a demonstration of the Orthodox faith. He states in his Lamp of Darkness for the Explanation of the Holy Service:

:‫ساويرس بطريرك أنطاكية‬

.‫ له فصول ىف إثبات اإلمانة االرثوذكسية ترد ضمن سريته‬-‫ا‬ ‫ واقوال ىف تفسري بعض كالم األناجيل املقدسة‬-‫ب‬ “Severus Patriarch of Antioch: A- He wrote several Chapters proving the Orthodox Faith, which are included in his biography. B- Sayings explaining some verses of the Holy Gospels.”19

 In the commemoration of the Patriarch Benjamin,20 we find in the book of the Antiphonarion21 a pensa; narxhereys évpi ewtoybhoyt natriki ;en