The Typika of the Monastery of Apa Shenoute

At the heart of the project lies the liturgical office of the White Monastery in Sohag in Upper Egypt, founded by Shenoute (ca. 361/62-465). The project will provide for the first time a complete diplomatical edition of the liturgical sources, in particular the Coptic (Sahidic) typica. The typica (directories of pericopes and hymns) can be characterised as liturgical sources that are both concise but highly informative. They do not offer complete prayers or liturgical texts and order, but only incipits and sometimes desinits. The goal of this project is to identify, edit and study all Sahidic directories of the White Monastery. The respective pericopes, hymns and homilies attributed to Sundays and feastdays in the Monastery of Apa Shenute will be investigated to find out the liturgical order of the Monastery. Firstly the scattered Manuscript-leaves and -fragments of the directories will be examined to ascertain whether or not they belong together and secondly their exact heortological specifications (date and name of the feast) will be identified; lastly the pericopes, hymns and homilies of these feasts will be listed. The regained leaves of a typicon manuscript will be diplomatically edited and commented upon. This edition will become an essential working tool in the future as new manuscripts are found or heretofore unidentified fragments are deciphered. Within this context, the research project contributes to the exploration and preservation of the Coptic heritage as well as to the illumination of the Christian-Egyptian liturgical traditions and Biblical recitation. As a result of the inter-denominational contacts of the various Christian traditions due to current migration and contemporary inter- confessional dialogues, the research project gains additional ecumenical importance. The research institution is the Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History of the Paris-Lodron- University of Salzburg.

The Monastery of Apa Shenoute, situated in Upper-Egypt, is also known as the White Monastery. Once it hosted one of the largest monastic libraries in Egypt consisting of more than 10.000 leaves. Today, only ruins remain of this treasure of the Coptic Church and manuscripts are spread all over the world. For decades, coptologists have been trying to re-arise this library. Yet, the liturgical sources of the White Monastery have not been of greater scientific interest. However, they give an invaluable insight into monastic worship during the time of Apa Shenoute ( 465), the most important abbot of the monastery, and his successors. Particularly the typika, liturgical indices showing which lectures from the Scripture, hymns and homilies had to be given on the respective Sun- and holidays, were somehow disregarded in Coptic liturgical studies. The project "The Worship of the Monastery of Apa Shenoute on the Basis of the Coptic (Sahidic) Directories. Edition. Commentary. Study", led by Prof. Dr. Dietmar W.Winkler, provided a complete diplomatical edition and analysis of the typika of the Monastery of Apa Shenoute for the first time. Dr. Diliana Atanassova functioned as main researcher in the project. In the course of the project, the world-wide scattered leaves and fragments of the typika of the monastery were detected and examined on their belonging to a specific codex. Consequently, the edition of the reconstructed codices was prepared. The analysis showed, that today we have to speak about at least 20 liturgical codices including typika from the Monastery of Apa Shenoute. Dr. Atanassova tried to identify each line of the typika. Despite the deterioration of some manuscripts, the identification worked very well. During research stays at the most important Coptological collections Dr. Atanassova was able to identify several new typikon leaves and fragments of the Monastery of Apa Shenoute. The research results will be published in a monograph on the typika including their edition and analysis in the serial "Jerusalemer Theologisches Forum". The results give detailed knowledge of the feasts and holidays in the Monastery of Apa Shenoute and their heortological descriptions. Finally, this will lead to a deeper understanding of Egyptian monastic liturgies and Coptic life during the first centuries preceding and following the Muslim-Arabic conquest of Egypt. Consequently, there is expected an important impetus for modern Coptic self-understanding. The monograph will be a pivotal working tool in dealing with further Sahidic liturgical text sources.