DOI Artikel:
Crum, Walter E.: Progress of Egyptology: coptic studies
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11174#0079
66
Pkogress of Egyptology.
lie was, however, unfortunately tempted to overstep the conditions of his
elevation, and, by his ordination of certain clergy, gave an opportunity
to jealous rivals for effecting his complete degradation. The present
work is intended, says the preface, as a summary of Egyptian church
history, with a parallel narrative of such events in the other Eastern
Churches as may illustrate this, and, at the close of each century, a brief
accouut of secular affairs. Such a book, compiled under the direct
supervision of the patriarch, might be expected to rely mainly upon the
traditional Monophysite authorities, and indeed the author does declare
his exclusive indebtedness to ' the Coptic ecclesiastical books.' Yet
his mode of using Severus and the other chroniclers—not one of whom,
by the way, he names—is anything but satisfactory to Western require-
ments. Instead of the hoped-for transcript of the MSS., we have to
be content with the Monk's modernized rendering of them—he has not
himself composed one word except the life of the present patriarch, but
has " rearranged the parts, polished the language, and improved the
style." The result has been the loss of not a few of the most curious and
instructive passages of the old compilations. In other instances, where
a disentanglement of the Eastern accounts is much needed,—e.g. for the
biography of Theodosius,—our author has simply followed the rambling
narrative of Severus. The account of Benjamin, too, is practically
that of Severus abbreviated. Other authorities have indeed been con-
sulted,—several modern Syrian writers, 'the Englishman' Mosheim
(Arabic transl.), the publications of the French Mission ardieologique,
whence the text of the letters of Acacius and Peter Mongus. The
apocryphal letter of Mohammed to the Christians (ed. Nissel) and that
of Omar to the patriarch Sophronius (ed. H. Purgstall) are printed from
a work by Lafridon (?) Bey. Upon the Mokaukis problem and the vole
of the Copts at the moment of the conquest the author appears to be
silent. The volume takes us as far as Simeon, 42nd patriarch. Dates,
up to the conquest, are in years a.d. ; after that, according to the Saracen
and Diocletian eras.
7. Miscellaneous. The appearance of the new Leyden Catalogue is an
impoitant event for all those concerned with Coptic literature.23 Of the
various plans on which a catalogue of MSS. can be arranged, MM. Pleyte
and Boeser have chosen one of the simplest and best: It is, however,
scarcely modelled on the ' system of Zoega' ; for instead of the
analyses and translations so often prefixed to the Borgiau MSS., the
new catalogue offers merely the text with measurements, palaeographical
observations, and the simplest general title, without any attempt at
Pkogress of Egyptology.
lie was, however, unfortunately tempted to overstep the conditions of his
elevation, and, by his ordination of certain clergy, gave an opportunity
to jealous rivals for effecting his complete degradation. The present
work is intended, says the preface, as a summary of Egyptian church
history, with a parallel narrative of such events in the other Eastern
Churches as may illustrate this, and, at the close of each century, a brief
accouut of secular affairs. Such a book, compiled under the direct
supervision of the patriarch, might be expected to rely mainly upon the
traditional Monophysite authorities, and indeed the author does declare
his exclusive indebtedness to ' the Coptic ecclesiastical books.' Yet
his mode of using Severus and the other chroniclers—not one of whom,
by the way, he names—is anything but satisfactory to Western require-
ments. Instead of the hoped-for transcript of the MSS., we have to
be content with the Monk's modernized rendering of them—he has not
himself composed one word except the life of the present patriarch, but
has " rearranged the parts, polished the language, and improved the
style." The result has been the loss of not a few of the most curious and
instructive passages of the old compilations. In other instances, where
a disentanglement of the Eastern accounts is much needed,—e.g. for the
biography of Theodosius,—our author has simply followed the rambling
narrative of Severus. The account of Benjamin, too, is practically
that of Severus abbreviated. Other authorities have indeed been con-
sulted,—several modern Syrian writers, 'the Englishman' Mosheim
(Arabic transl.), the publications of the French Mission ardieologique,
whence the text of the letters of Acacius and Peter Mongus. The
apocryphal letter of Mohammed to the Christians (ed. Nissel) and that
of Omar to the patriarch Sophronius (ed. H. Purgstall) are printed from
a work by Lafridon (?) Bey. Upon the Mokaukis problem and the vole
of the Copts at the moment of the conquest the author appears to be
silent. The volume takes us as far as Simeon, 42nd patriarch. Dates,
up to the conquest, are in years a.d. ; after that, according to the Saracen
and Diocletian eras.
7. Miscellaneous. The appearance of the new Leyden Catalogue is an
impoitant event for all those concerned with Coptic literature.23 Of the
various plans on which a catalogue of MSS. can be arranged, MM. Pleyte
and Boeser have chosen one of the simplest and best: It is, however,
scarcely modelled on the ' system of Zoega' ; for instead of the
analyses and translations so often prefixed to the Borgiau MSS., the
new catalogue offers merely the text with measurements, palaeographical
observations, and the simplest general title, without any attempt at