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Abd al-Masih

By Khalil Samir

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‘abd al-masīḥ. A manuscript of the Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo (Theology 290; Graf, no. 533; Simaykah, no. 333) contains a collection of 149 poems in simple literary Arabic on moral and religious subjects, composed by Anbā Bistawrah, known as al-Ḥarīrī (Graf, 1934, Vol. 4, p. 133) [see also bisurah al-ḥarīrī]. It was copied by ibrāhīm ibn sulaymān al-najjār al-mīrī in March 1709 for the mu‘allim ‘Awaḍ al-Maḥallawī, and was offered to the hegumenos ‘Abd al-Masīḥ.

He may be the same hegumenos (priest) who, during the reign of the 103rd patriarch, john xvi (yu’annis) (1676–1718), and in his patriarchal residence, copied a liturgical manuscript (Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Liturgy 15; Simaykah, no. 815; not in Graf) containing a lectionary in Coptic for the Sundays of the first six months of the year. This manuscript was restored in March 1715.

Bibliography

Graf, G. Catalogue de manuscrits arabes chrétiens conservés au Caire. Studi e Testi 134, p. 200. Vatican City, 1934. KHALIL SAMIR

How to cite

Samir, Khalil. “‘Abd al-Masīḥ.” in Aziz S. Atiya, ed. The Coptic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, pp. 5a–5b. New York: Macmillan, 1991. Online at Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia: https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/cce/id/11/ .