St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society

Eleventh St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies Registration Form

July 17-18, 2009

Presentations @ UCLA, Royce Hall Room 314, Los Angeles California 90024

• Fees
• Schedule (periodically updated)
• Location
• Directions & Parking
• Preliminary List of Speakers
• Abstracts

P.s. If you get an error message after submittal, email a note to info@stshenouda.com. We are working on fixing this glitch.

Registration Fee (Suggested Contributions):

• Members: $20
• Non-Member : $25
• Students: Free
• UCLA Students/Faculty: Free

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Schedule:

Schedule: The following is a tentative schedule for the conference:

Friday, July 17, 2009

Saturday, July 18, 2009

• Note: For e-mail registration, the registration fee will be collected at the first day of attendance and will cover entrance fees, program packet, and lunches.

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Location:

The Conference will be located on the Campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Royce Hall, Room 314.

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Directions and Parking:

Coming from the south or from the Santa Monica Freeway:
Take the 405 N, Exit Wilshire East (Bear to the right at the exit)
Turn Right on Wilshire Blvd.
Turn Left on Westwood Ave. (the 3rd traffic light after exiting the fwy)
Turn Right on Leconte Ave
then turn Left on Hilgard Ave (the second light after turning into Le Conte
Turn Left on Westholme Drive, then turn right immediately in a driveway to the information booth.
Request parking in Lot #2, parking is $10 per day and mention that you attending the St Shenouda Coptic Conference at Royce Hall.
The attendant at the booth can direct you to Royce Hall.
Enter in the left-most door of Royce Hall and take the elevator up to the third floor (Room #314).

Coming from the north (The San Fernando Valley):
Take the 405 S, Exit Sunset East
Turn Left on Sunset Blvd.
Turn Right on Hilgard Ave.
Turn Right on Westholme Drive, then turn right immediately in a driveway to the information booth.
Request parking in Lot #2, parking is $10 per day.
The attendant at the booth can direct you to Royce Hall.
Enter in the left-most door of Royce Hall and take the elevator up to the third floor (Room #314).

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List of Speakers :

• Dr. Diliana.Atanassova (Salzburg, Austria)
• Dr. Monica Bontty (University of Louisiana, Monroe)
• Mr. Julien Auber De Lapierre ( Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris France)
• Prof. Stephen Davis (Yale University, Connecticut)
• Dr. Jacco Dieleman (UCLA)
• Prof. David Johnson (University of California, Berkeley/GTU, California)
• Dr. Anne Moore (University of Calgary, Canada)
• Prof. James Robinson, (Claremont Graduate University, California)
• Dr. S. Michael Saad (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society/ Claremont Graduate University)
• Dr. Caroline Schroeder (University of the Pacific, California)
• Prof. Mark Swanson ( Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Illinois)
• Mr. Hany N. Takla (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society)
• Dr.. Janet Timbie (Catholic University of America, Washington, DC)
• Dr. Youhanna N. Youssef (Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia)
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Abstracts:

Title: On the Typika of the White Monastery

Presenter: Dr. Diliana Atanassova (Salzburg, Austria)

Abstract:

This paper will present some preliminary results of the ongoing research project on “the Typika of the White Monastery” carried out at the Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History of the Salzburg University “Paris Lodron” and funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). This study has attempted to ascertain whether the 150 manuscript leaves of parchment and paper, which are scattered in the libraries in Ann Arbor, Berlin, Cairo, Leiden, London, Manchester, Oxford, Paris, Rome, Venice and Vienna, belong and related to each other so that the original codices can be reconstructed as far as it is possible. For this reconstruction, the present research project uses the abbreviation system developed by Tito Orlandi in his enterprise Coprus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari (CMCL), where the typika manuscripts obtain all letters from MONB.WA until MONB.WO. The paper will also point out those particular cases in the assignation of some leaves to particular manuscript, for example, those with shelf mark Vienna, ÖNB, K 211 or Ann Arbor, UML, Ms. 110.

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Title: The Long Arm of the Copts: The Far Reaching Influence of Shenouda's White Monastery

Presenter: Dr. Monica Bontty, (Monroe, Louisiana)

Abstract:

Candida Casa, also known as Whithorn is the site of the first Christian community Scotland and has been the topic of much interest since the initial excavation in the 1880s.  Candida Casa means “White House,” and scholars have suggested Greek, Gallic or Coptic correspondences.  Archaeology has revealed strong influence from Gaul but the appearance of new technologies and the zoning of the site (comprised of central church/churches within and inner precinct) hints at an eastern import. This paper will note similarities between the White House and the White Monastery in order to determine the extent and nature of influence between the two sites.

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Title: Archaeology at the White Monastery, 2005-2009

Presenter: Prof. Stephen Davis (New Haven, CT)

Abstract:

At the St. Shenoute Society conference in the summer of 2004, Darlene Brooks Hedstrom presented a paper in which she gave a preview of a newly planned "Archaeological Mission for the White Monastery.” Surveys and excavations began the following year. This work is ongoing and is now administered under the auspices of the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project (YMAP). The aim of this paper is to summarize findings from the first five seasons of archaeological investigation and to provide listeners with a practical orientation to the site and its remains.

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Title: The Icon of St. Shenouda by Yuhanna al-Armani

Presenter: Mr. Julien Auber de Lapierre (Paris, France)

Abstract:

Born in a family of Armenian origin, the painter of icons Yuhanna al-Armani al-Qudsi is one of the most prolific Christian artists of the Ottoman Empire. Active in Cairo from 1740 to 1783, his works (over 500 icons) are present in all the churches in Cairo during the restoration period of the eighteenth century.

His style is particularly marked by Coptic, Armenian and western influences which reveal a really original art and make of Yuhanna a pillar for Eastern Christian art. The icon of St. Shenouda preserved in the monastery Abu Mina in Fum al-Khalig, is an ideal opportunity to discuss the stylistic characteristics of a man and his workshop whose art is present everywhere in Egypt.

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Title: Cryptography at the Monastery of Deir el-Bachit

Presenter: Dr. Jacco Dieleman (Los Angeles, California)

Abstract:

Education was an important product of Pachomian monastic system. This was especially true in the White Monastery Federation which through its famous abbot, Apa Shenoute, extended its influence from Middle Egypt to the southern boundaries of Upper Egypt. This paper will deal with contents of O. Bachit 21, an ostracon found at the site of a monastery near Luxor in the southern regions of Upper Egypt. It provides an interesting cryptographic use of Coptic characters. The careful investigation of this document will provide an intriguing insight into the methods of scribal education in a late antique monastic environment. It will also reflect on issues of continuity and innovation in scribal practices from the early Roman to late antique period in Egypt.

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Title: From Pachomius to Shenoute: Presence and diffusion of monastic rules in egyptian monasteries

Presenter: Dr. Mariachiara Giorda (Turin, Italy)

Abstract:

During the first centuries of Egyptian monasticism, rules contributed to organizing and managing the spiritual and concrete aspects of every-day life of monastic communities. They were an important issue in the construction of a monastic identity and they developed and spread in monasteries, creating contacts among different contexts. The model of these monastic rules was the corpus of Pachomian rules and Pachomius was one of the most important models for the following generations of monks. Pachomius was integrated in the Egyptian monastic tradition after 451, thanks to the relationships with Shenoutian monasteries and the consequence was the creation of an only Egyptian succession of exemplar monks. The first contacts between the White Monastery of Shenoute and Pachomian monasticism were based on rules: the organization of White Monastery was strongly influenced by Pachomian koinonia.

Starting from this closeness and from the fact that also the Shenoutian rules were very important for the network of Egyptian monasteries – firstly thanks to the action of Apa Abraham – we would like to study the second step of this relationship based on rules: the frequent citations of rules in literature and documents confirm the continuity of the legislative texts used by Egyptian monasteries and the centrality of rules that structured and gave an order to these monasteries. An important topic is the presence of written but also oral rules, which can be easily found in the sources, and the crossed influences of monastic and ecclesiastic rules were the frame of an Egyptian monastic tradition based also on Scriptures, prayers, spiritual and physical discipline.

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Title: As I sat on a Mountain":Shenoute's Theology of the Church

Presenter:  Prof. David Johnson, S.J. (Berkeley, California)

Abstract:

After Shenoute presents sharp contrasts between true Christians and those groups whose members are outside the Church, he then goes on to give his vision of the Church based on a reading of the Song of Songs. The paper will concentrate on Shenoute's exegetical technique and his use of the New Testament to interpret the Song of Songs

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Title: The Sapiential Kingdom of God within the Writings of Clement ofAlexandria

Presenter:  Dr. Anne Moore (Calgary, Canada)

Abstract:

Clement of Alexandria’s employment of the theological metaphor ‘Kingdom of God’ is overwhelmingly focused on its present manifestation both it terms of the individual Christian’s behavior and the Christian community’s lifestyle or ethos. Clement’s proclivity for the present expression of the ‘Kingdom of God’ has been regarded as a deviation from the assumed early Christian eschatological focus, and it has been attributed to possible Gnostic influences on Clement’s theology. This paper will argue that the understanding of the ‘Kingdom of God’ as it is reflected within the Alexandrian theology of Clement of Alexandria is not Gnostic. Clement’s understanding of the present ‘Kingdom of God’ was based on Gospel material and it was influenced, in part, by the sapiential or wisdom tradition of Hellenistic Judaism as expressed in the texts of the Septuagint and Philo of Alexandria. It was a continuation of the evolving wisdom traditions of both formative Judaism and Christianity

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Title: The Nag Hammadi Story in Photographs

Presenter: Prof. James M. Robinson (Claremont, California)

Abstract:

This is a presentation, in 60 photographs, of the discovery, trafficking, monopolizing, and final publishing of the 13 Nag Hammadi Codices. These Coptic books of the Fourth Century, translations of otherwise lost Greek texts, were discovered in 1945 by Muhammad Ali, a camel driver digging for sebakh at the foot of the cliff of the Jabal al-Tarif just north of Nag Hammadi. I show him and the other good and bad characters, and thus narrate the whole story of what happened to these papyrus manuscripts, until the whole collection was finally published as The Nag Hammadi Library in English in 1977 by a team I organized at Claremont Graduate University. These unique Coptic texts are the main reason that Coptic studies have made so much progress at the university level within the past half century.

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Title: Recent Coptic Studies at Claremont Graduate University - Vision, Accomplishments, and Future.

Presenter: Dr. Saad Michael Saad (Los Angeles/Claremont, California)

Abstract:

A Visiting Professorship in Coptic Studies began at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) School of Religion (SoR) in January 2007 with community funding. This expanded the decades-long Coptology program at CGU into new areas including Coptic art, archeology, architecture, history, culture, monastic literature, OT, NT, and liturgy. Students are at different phases in preparing their PhD dissertations and MA theses on Coptology topics. Academic tours to Coptic Egypt helped faculty and students to appreciate the depth and richness of Coptic history. A series of public lectures and liturgical choir performances added to the community-academia interaction. In the 2008 IACS Congress in Cairo, CGU announced the first steps taken to create a web-based supplement to the Coptic Encyclopedia. Activities are posted at: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/5446.asp

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Title: Children in Early Egyptian Monasticism

Presenter: Dr. Caroline Schroeder (Stockton, California)

Abstract:

Medieval and Byzantine monasteries and convents were teeming with children. From orphans deposited on their doorsteps to become monastics, to pupils studying in their schools before moving on to an uncloistered adult life, to sick children seeking care from church hospitals, monastic institutions for men and women, East and West, sheltered scores of children during this era. This paper will address the question of whether one may date the beginnings of this commonplace and its origins to developments in monasticism in early Christian Egypt. Sources for Egyptian asceticism testify to the presence of children among adult monks, albeit sparingly. In the most popular literature documenting early Egyptian monasticism, such as the Apophthegmata Patrum, children are to be eschewed, not welcomed into the monastic lifestyle. However, despite an ascetic ideology emphasizing the renunciation of children and family, children were a significant presence in coenobitic monasticism, and it seems that children were also among the anchorites or semi-eremitic monastics. Children required protection from hazards posed by the physical labor and corporal punishment endured by adults as well as from sexual advances by other monks. Monastic leaders had to integrate these children who would become monks into the ways of the community, and they had to accommodate their communities to the challenges posed by the presence of such children. Using material from a number of sites (including Shenoute’s monastery, the Pachomian monasteries, the monastery at Naqlun, and monasteries near Thebes/Jeme), this paper will argue that minor children were a part of Egyptian monastic life from its first stages, and that their numbers grew from the fourth through seventh centuries as they became fully incorporated into their communities. These children included biological offspring of adult monks as well as other unrelated boys or girls. Moreover, these children were not merely residing with the monks, under their temporary care until the minors reached adulthood; many of these children were monks-in-training, being raised for a future ascetic lives of their own.

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Title: Searching for Shenoute (Third Installment)

Presenter: Prof. Mark Swanson (Chicago, Illinois)

Abstract:

This paper continues a search for Shenoutian material among the Arabic manuscripts of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; in previous papers I have looked at the material attributed to Apa Shenoute in BN ar. 4761 and BN ar. 4796.In this installment, my topic is a sermon contained in BN ar. 144 (1617 AD), ff. 9-20, entitled “A maymar pronounced by the great saint Abu Shinudah, archimandrite of the entire world, in which he alerts the human to return and repent of his sins and his evil way of life.”  This sermon has not gone unnoticed: E. Tisserant devoted an article to it over a century ago (ROC 13 (1908): 81-89) and K.H. Kuhn identified it as a translation of (a recension of) a sermon that he published in 1960 as Pseudo-Shenoute on Christian Behavior (CSCO 206-7 = copt. 29-30).  More recently, E. Lucchesi announced an edition of the Arabic text (OCP 66 (2000): 422).  Still, the sermon has not been widely read or discussed; this paper will ask whether or not this neglect is deserved.

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Title: Surviving Remains of the Book of Jeremiah from the White Monastery

Presenter: Dr. Janet Timbie (Washington, DC)

Abstract:

From evidence seen in his writings, St. Shenouda the Archimandrite had high regards for the book of Jeremiah. The title of prophet accorded to him in his life time and beyond is probably due to his dramatically delivered and frequent quotation from this book. This paper will survey what has survived of this important biblical book within the scattered remains of the famous library of the White Monastery.

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Title: St. Shenoute 2004-2009: Trends in Research

Presenter: Dr. Janet Timbie (Washington, DC)

Abstract:

During the 2004-2009 period, work has continued on the critical edition of the works of Shenoute of Atripe.  Several important articles and books have been published in the period that rely on published and unpublished material, and shed new light on the life of Shenoute, on the operation of the White Monastery, and on pagan religion in the area of the monastery.  The most important work will be discussed.

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Title: A Miraculous Icon of Saint Shenoute in Old Cairo

Presenter:  Dr. Youhanna N. Youssef, (Melbourne, Australia)

Abstract:

The icon of St. Shenoute is mentioned in a micracle performed by Pope Matthew the Poor (14-15th centuries) to reveal the thief who stole church properties. This was done by binding, in the spiritual sense, the icon until the saint help the Pope to find the thief. I regard this as an appeal to the known tough quality of the saint in dealing with transgressors. Around the same time but in the monasteries of the Red Sea, Marcus al-Antoni is exhorting his disciples to flee from the icon or wall-painting of S. Shenouda because he was not patient with sinners, whom Marcus was in favor of of being compassionate with. This paper will contrast and put in context  these two differening opinions that were recorded with regard two different images of the saint in two different geographical places but occurring around the same historical period.

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Prepared by Hany N. Takla, July 15, 2009

For more information contact: htakla@stshenouda.com