Author Archives: Kevin P. Edgecomb

I have a neat little four volume set of the Coptic Synaxarium, published by St Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Chicago. The whole set is now available online in one pdf file, here, published by the St George Coptic Orthodox Church of Chicago. The Coptic Calendar is based directly on the ancient Egyptian calendar, maintaining the same month names and number of days in each month. The only difference has been the insertion of a sixth day into The Little Month, which normally only has five days, every four years. The Coptic Calendar thus very neatly lines up with the Julian Calendar, though not so neatly with the Revised Julian and Gregorian calendars. More on that is available in the quite good Wikipedia article on the Coptic Calendar. The Coptic year begins on August 29 of the Julian year. All the months have thirty days, except for the last month, The Little Month, as mentioned above. Note also that there are various spellings of the names of the months. There appears to be no systematized spelling for English usage yet. I’ll use the spellings found in the books themselves. What follows here is the list of Saints and commemorations found in the above-mentioned publication of the Coptic Synaxarium, particularly for comparison with the Eastern Orthodox calendar of commemorations.

1 Tute (29 Aug): Feast of El-Nayrouz (Beginning of the Blessed Coptic Year); Martyrdom of St Bartholomew the Apostle; Departure of St Melyos the Third Pope of Alexandria
2 Tute (30 Aug): Martyrdom of St John the Baptist; Martyrdom of St Daysa the Soldier
3 Tute (31 Aug): A Council of Bishops took place in Alexandrian; A great earthquake in Cairo and in most Egyptian cities
4 Tute (1 Sept): Departure of St Macarius the 69th Pope of Alexandria
5 Tute (2 Sept): Martyrdom of St Sophia
6 Tute (3 Sept): Martyrdom of the Prophet Isaiah; Martyrdom of St Baslantya
7 Tute (4 Sept): Departure of St Dioscorus I the 25th Pope of Alexandria; Martyrdom of Saints Agatho, Peter, John, Amon, Ammona, and their mother Rebecca; Departure of St Severianus Bishop of Gabla
8 Tute (5 Sept): Martyrdom of Zechariah the Priest father of John the Baptist; Departure of the Prophet Moses; Martyrdom of St Dimides
9 Tute (6 Sept): Martyrdom of St Pisoura Bishop of Masil
10 Tute (7 Sept): Martyrdom of St Matrounah; Commemoration of St Passin and her three children
11 Tute (8 Sept): Martyrdom of St Wasilides
12 Tute (9 Sept): Assembly of the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus for trying Nestor Archbishop of Constantinople; Transfer of the Relics of the martyrs St Aklimos and his companions
13 Tute (10 Sept): Departure of St Mattheos II the 92nd Pope of Alexandria; Comemoration of the wonder made by St Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia
14 Tute (11 Sept): Departure of St Agatho the Stylite
15 Tute (12 Sept): Transfer of the Relics of St Stephen the Archdeacon
16 Tute (13 Sept): Commemoration of the Consecration of the Sanctuaries of the Resurrection; Transfer of the Relics of St John ChrysostomContinue reading “Coptic Synaxarium”

I recently picked up a couple of stunningly beautiful books, “coffee table books” as they say, and wanted to recommend them to others. Both are large and lavishly illustrated.

For the Biblically illiterate, the Gospel According to Matthew describes that, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Joseph is warned to take Mary and the infant Jesus into Egypt to escape the murderous intent of King Herod (unfathomably called “the Great”). Coptic tradition has the Holy Family wandering through the country for a period of three and a half years, during which they made their way as far south as Assiut. An angel told Joseph when it was safe to return to the Land of Israel, specifically to Galilee, and Joseph then took the family to Nazareth, out of the territory of Herod’s equally brutal son Archelaus. The two coffee table books are related to the traditions of the Holy Family in Egypt.

The first is one that I’d heard of from several sources, but it was Gina at Book Dust who really inspired me to pick up a copy after her post on it. She was fortunate enough to attend a presentation on the book by the editor. The book is The Churches of Egypt: From the Journey of the Holy Family to the Present Day, by Gawdat Gabra and Gertrud J. M. van Loon with Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom, edited by Carolyn Ludwig (whose presentation Gina heard), and photographs by Sherif Sonbol. It’s a Ludwig Publishing Edition, of The American University of Cairo Press, 2007. In 328 pages, a vast number of ancient and modern churches in Egypt are described and, most strikingly, beautifully illustrated in full color by Mr Sonbol’s beautiful photography. The volume is actually heavier on the photography than on the text, but, believe me, that is no problem at all. There are some stunningly beautiful churches in Egypt, from the ancient mudbrick chapels of an ancient monastery to great Patriarchal cathedrals with towering columns. Amazon is currently offering this book at a substantial discount.

The second book is one that I hunted down after having devoured the first one. Be Thou There: The Holy Family’s Journey in Egypt is edited by Gawdat Gabra, with chapters written by William Lyster, Cornelis Hulsman, and Stephen J. Davis. The photography in this volume, also stunning, is by Norbert Schiller. This is a 164 page description of various sites associated with the journey of the the Holy Family into Egypt. (Also availabe at a discount at Amazon.) For centuries there were was only a general itinerary, mentioning a few places, but as time went on, villages and towns and cities along these routes would claim to have been passed through by the Holy Family, often with miraculous wells or trees associated with the various stops. Many of these appear in the book, without its trying to establish a precise itinerary. A more precise “official” itinerary was established by the Coptic Orthodox Church for the year 2000 celebrations. This book includes descriptions of the route and the traditionally associated pilgrim sites. There’s a very interesting appendix describing the development of the itinerary through the ages, and its development and validation not just through oral tradition, but through visions, whether ancient (like that recorded in the Vision of Theophilus, attributed to the Patriarch of Alexandria of the late third and early fourth century) or more recent (visions of the Holy Virgin Mary at Assiut in 2000).

What I found very interesting about the official itinerary is that it appears to actually follow some ancient roads, and that many of the various towns or cities passed through were certainly around in the very late first century B.C. For this, one may refer to the beautiful maps of The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (see also here). It would be good to post more on this in the future, particularly in order to provide the ancient names for the various sites in the itinerary, which are not always obvious when they differ greatly from their modern names. It’s a fun project, one I’d like to incorporate much of the traditional material into. We’ll see how that turns out.

Anyhow, I wanted to bring attention to these two beautiful and edifying books. You may justify the expense in that they are less expensive than a tour of Egypt! Give your eyes a rest from reading words, and enjoy the beautiful photography of these books. And meditate on the travels of the Holy Family, and on the faith of the Copts, who treasure the tradition of the sanctification of their entire ancient homeland by the visit of the Holy Family up and down the Nile.

Today, a lestovka arrived in the mail! “What is a lestovka?,” many people will be thinking. It is essentially a loop of braided leather that is used for counting prayers, similar to the more well-known Eastern Orthodox prayer rope (Greek komvoschini, or Russian vervitsa), and more distantly similar to the Roman Catholic rosary. The lestovka is most often associated with the Old Believer Russian Orthodox community, though it is also sometimes used by Russian Orthodox in general, though not as commonly as the vervitsa. They were much more common among Russians more than a century ago, I understand.

A more detailed description is in order. There is a fine description, with several pictures of beautiful, older lestovki, here. The lestovka is composed of several strips of leather which are intricately looped through slits, the loops also enclosing small cylindrical pieces of wood or other material, such that the loops all create “steps” or “rungs” (babochki) which traditionally reflect the heavenly laddder seen by the Patriarch Jacob, as well as the Ladder of Divine Ascent of St John Climacus. Here is a picture of the “rungs” (on the left) and the back (on the right) of the lestovka, showing the interleaved layers of leather. It’s along the rungs, of course, that one counts prayers. I have to say, the lestovka is both a lovely piece of folk art, and a fascinating piece of tradition, with its various rungs/ridges being useful for keeping count of repetitions of prayers in various liturgical services. Having something to keep track of which “Lord, have mercy” out of forty one is on at the moment is certainly helpful.

(click for a larger image)

At the end of the loop are four triangular pieces of leather, called lapostki, which create the immediately recognizable, traditional form of the lestovka, though some other shapes have been known to be used here. The lapostki are generally decorated in some manner, sometimes even including patches from worn vestments, altar cloths, and such. They are often embroidered, and are usually sewn together, though (as in the case with my own) are sometimes glued.

(click for a larger image)

The traditional symbolism of the various elements of the lestovka is elaborate. The four lapostki represent the Four Evangelists. The stitching around them represents the teaching of the Gospel. Bound inside the lapostki, up near the attachment to the rest of the lestovka, are seven small “movable pieces” which represent the seven Mysteries of the Church. There are then three large rungs at either end of the lestovka, just above the lapostki, which, counting the other three large rungs, represent the nine Orders of Angels described by St Dionysius the Areopagite in The Celestial Hierarchy. Returning to the beginning of the rungs, immediately after the initial three large rungs there is a space (representing the earth) and then twelve small rungs, representing the Twelve Apostles. There is then a large rung. Then follow 38 small rungs, representing the 36 weeks and two days in which Jesus gestated in the womb of Mary, followed by another large rung. Then there are 33 small rungs, representing the number of years that Jesus lived on earth, followed by another large rung. Then come 17 small rungs, indicating the seventeen prophets who prophesied the coming of Jesus. Then comes another space, representing heaven, and one comes to the ending three large rungs, and thence to the lapostki again. There are a total of 100 small rungs. As noted above, however, the way the 100 rungs are divided is particularly useful in a liturgical context for counting the repetition of prayers, and likely the origin of the divisions, with the above traditional explanations being secondary.

The prayer most often used with the lestovka, as with the prayer rope, is The Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. Any prayer may be used, of course. There are different traditions regarding which prayers to use at which points along the lestovka (similar to Roman Catholic rosary usage), for the large rungs at the beginning and end, and for the three large rungs in the midst of the small rungs.

I purchased the lestovka pictured above from The Church of the Nativity, an Old Rite parish in Erie, Pennsylvania, from this page. They are a bit expensive (I got a leather one), but they are beautifully made, all by hand. The only change I would ask for is that the lapostki be sewn together rather than glued, but this is minor. The rungs themselves are very nicely done, and very comfortable in the hand. The lestovka is not as compact as a 100 knot prayer rope, which is quite easily stuffed in a pocket, but it’s still quite compactible, as well.

The lestovka is a part of Eastern Orthodox Christianity’s history of pious practice among the laity. In this case, like the prayer ropes, the practice is one shared with monastics, with the number of rungs on the lestovka being designed for use in those services originating with monasteries. Traditional and practical!