428 THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

ON A DIRECTORY FRAGMENT RECENTLY DIS-COVERED IN THE WADI N-NATRUN.1

IN 1920-192 I the Egyptian Expedition of the New York Metro-politan Museum of Art was engaged in the detailed survey of themonasteries in the Wadi n-Natrun, the Shihet or Scetis of ecclesiasticalhistory. An account of these monasteries, with several views, will befound in the Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum for July 1920(pp. 34sqq.) and November 1921 (pp. S4sqq.). In one, the Det AbftMakar, there was an important find of manuscripts (cf. Bulletin, Nov.1921, pp. 60-62), and among them a fragment of a liturgical Directory.

The fragment consists of two consecutive leaves, and the passageends on the verso of the second. The commencement is missing.The subject-matter deals mainly with the use of the Theotokia.

The Theotokia of the Coptic Church is a metrical compositionintended for singing and occupies so important a place in CopticChurch music that the name Theotokia is commonly given to thechoir-book which contains, besides the Theotokia proper, the variousPsali or metrical hymns, the Canticles, and even the choral portionsof the Liturgy, whilst the two leading modes, O^OJUL and &«.TOC, gettheir names from the opening words of the Theotokia for Mondayand Wednesday—names which are used also, still in Coptic, by theAbyssinians. The Theotokia itself takes the form of seven metricalcompositions, one for each day of the week. The word 'Theotokia'is used in Coptic for each of these, or for all, the form serving assingular or plural. As the execution of this choral office needs a bodyof singers, a thing not easy to secure every day in a parish church, it iscustomary to sing the whole service on Saturday night, though of coursethe necessity behind this usage does not exist in the monasteries wherethe monks can be assembled on any day. Manuscripts of the Theotokiapresent it as available for any season, with accompanying Psali whichare varied during the month of Choiahk (December); but modern(non-monastic) custom confines the Theotokia to that month when theyare made to serve as a devotional exercise preparatory to Christmas.

The use of the Coptic Daily Office is confined to the monasticcommunities; it has never been introduced into the parish churches.It contains seven hours, the Morning Office, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers,Compline, and the Night Office. If we regard the Morning Office ascorresponding to Prime there is nothing equivalent to the Latin

1 I thank the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum Expedition for permissionto make use of the fragment, and Mr H. G. Evelyn White for communicating itto me.

NOTES AND STUDIES 429

Laudes. The recitation of the Psalter is begun at the Morning Officejust as, in the Monastic Breviary, it begins at Prime on Monday. Inthe monasteries of the Wadi n-Natrun the offices of Morning andVespers are recited in common, usually in the open, and the otheroffices are said privately by each monk.

The Theotokia is used after Vespers and with it are associated variousPsali and ' Odes' or canticles. The present Directory fragment beginswith the close of Vespers and gives the order of the Psali, Odes, andTheotokia which follow.

To understand its directions it must be remembered that the D6rAbu Makir formerly contained two communities, the ' Sons of AbbaMakari (Macarius)', who represent the original community, and the' Sons of Abba John', i. e. of St John the Dwarf, who at an unknown datemigrated from their own monastery, some seven or eight miles distant, tothat of Abu Makar bearing with them the body of the saint which is stillpreserved in the Church there. Maqrizi (c. 1420) says that in his day thereremained only three monks in the monastery of Abba John (cf. EvettsChurches and Monasteries of Egypt p. 321, where the whole passage istranslated); whilst Thevenot, who visited Egypt in 1657^ but did nothimself-go out to the Wadi n-Natrun, reports that it was then in ruins,with only one dome remaining. Originally, it is said, there werea hundred monasteries in the Wadi; but Maqrizi found only seven left.Formerly they were the centre of Egyptian Church life, and the Patriarchwent out there in Holy Week to consecrate the Chrism. The lastoccasion on which this took place was in 1346, and the rapid declineof the monasteries began soon after, so that only a few houses witha handful of inmates were left at the end of the century. The Directoryfragment appears to be of the thirteenth-fourteenth century, and it mayeither be that the migration had already taken place, or that it refers tosome occasion when the monks of the two monasteries joined in someof their religious exercises.

The Directory represents the two communities as taking alternateparts in the service, so that a Psali in honour of St John is recited bythe ' Sons of Abba Makari', and one in honour of St Makari by the' Sons of Abba John'.

The order of the Directory begins with the recital of a Psali to theVirgin, probably by the ' Sons of Abba John'. Then the ' Sons ofAbba Makari' say a Psali of Abba John, and the Gospel is read untilthe Doxology of Vespers. The Doxology implies a series of shortPsali in honour of the B. Virgin, the Archangels, certain leading saints,and one or more in honour of the saint of the day.1 This apparentlybrings us to the end of Vespers, after which the ' Sons of Abba John'

1 Cf. The hymn 8<OTO*« HapBivt . . . piirt] tbXoyrjiUvi) of the Greek TJ<r™pabv.

430 THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

say 'the Psali' and 'a Psali' though perhaps these refer to the com-memorations included in the Doxology.

Then follow the Odes which in the Coptic Church are four, viz.(i) the Song of Moses, Exod. xv 1-19; (ii) Psalm cxxxv (cxxxvi);(iii) the Song of the Three Children; (iv) Psalms cxlviii-cl recited asone. The ' Sons of Abba John' say the first and third, the ' Sons ofAbba Makari' the second and fourth. After each of the first two Odesa ' Psali of the Lord Jesus' is said by the same group which recitedthe Ode. Following Tuki's edition of 1764 these Psali are (i) afterOde I *5en OIT^WT . . . (Tkki p. 27) or in the month of Choiahk *.nScepovpo (ii. p. 264), and (ii) after Ode II jm&pencmong . . . (ii. p. 32),or in Choiahk «jn&gu>c . . . (ii. p. 274). The Cairo edition of 1908 givesin each case only the former of these two (pp. 47, 55). Then a Psaliof the Virgin is recited by those who did not say the Ode preceding,after which those who did recite it say a Psali in honour of St John orof St Makari. Thus :—

Sons of Abia John. Sons of Aiia Makari.

Ode IPsali

Psali of the Virgin.Psali of Abba Makari

Ode II.Psali.

Psali of the VirginPsali of Abba John.

The first two Odes being completed, each followed by three Psali, the' Sons of Abba John' begin the Theotokia and a Psali of the Virgin,after which the ' Sons of Abba Makari' follow and also say a Psali ofthe Virgin. Apparently the Theotokia for the day is said by both,reciting alternately. But the Theotokia for the day, both in the printededitions and in the MSS, has only one Psali of the Virgin ; that is, onefor each day of the week; and this is always given as preceding theTheotokia, whilst the Directory apparently, gives two and places themafter the Theotokia. The Theotokia is finished by the ' Sons of AbbaMakari', and then the ' Sons of Abba John' say a Psali of Abba Makariand proceed to recite the third Ode. No Psali is given as followingthis Ode, although every text of the Theotokia has one inserted here,very commonly followed by the ' Intercessions', a kind of litany of theSaints. After the third Ode the 'Sons of Abba Makari' begin thefourth Ode which never has a Psali attached. Possibly the Psali afterthe third Ode was omitted in the DSr Abu Makar in order to equalizethe portions of the two groups. The concluding rubric represents the

NOTES AND STUDIES 431

'Sons of Abba Makari' as saying the Psalm and the Psali of theGospel ' in Abba John and in Abba Makar', which means that it wassaid both in the sanctuary of Abba John and in that of Abba Makari,sanctuaries which are still standing > and are covered by the two domesvisible in the top right-hand comer of the view of the Der Abu Makirwhich is figured in Bulletin, Nov. 1921, fig. 2, p. 55. Such an expres-sion occurs in the Marty'Hum S. Theodori (Ada MM. in Corp. Script.Christ. Or. Script. Copt. I l l i p. 6, Paris, 1908) where we read J6eits i i s , neno^ep meaning ' in (the sanctuary of) Abba B' . For thisexplanation of 'in Abba John' &c I am indebted to Mr H. G.Evelyn White.

folio 1.Text.

recto epgKTC 4- eoT\\/*Xi verso

pe nenujHpi IIAMA. uj«.pe

JUtA.KA.pi 4"

riA.nenituT

ICJAnnHC 4* IT& A.T ITA, U]&p£ nCITUJHpi

ujA-iitouj juuueT&r UAAAA. ib>&nnHC •}•

*- nTg4.n«> , neniWT

i- ujA.pH rtenujH

•{- ne i i

iRc -5-ITA. nen ujHpi

folio a.recto &A IW*JIHHC 4* TOT verso n«.frA& JUL&R&PI fr

ITA. ncnujHpi IIA.£IAA.

JU.AJlA.pi {•

nor \^A.X

4- He nenujHpi ti•5-

6-b.OKIA. 4-1 The northern sanctuary, originally dedicated to St Mark, now bears the name

of St John the Baptist. That it was for a while the sanctuary of St John theDf i jtDwarf is a conjecture

432 THE JOURNAL.OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

pi ktJi&\ iwa.nrLHC <> I T * neiiujHpi hub

RC • ^ / A \ I fc^n&p *• A*. Ju&K&p

llenenctooT nenujH ju.nn^r*^\juoc •>pi AJAIJ, jueji&pi •}• ^ ^ A \ I fiTe

I lenenc iooT nenujH iiiWwnriHC •>• n e u

pi n ^ M ^ icoa.nnHC &&&& juta.K6.pi <-

[fo. i, recto] . . . a Pja/i' of the Virgin. The Sons of Abba Makarisay a Psali of our father Abba John. Then they read the Gospel,down to the Doxology of Evening. The Sons of Abba John say thePsali and a Psali.

Then the Sons of Abba John say the beginning of the first Ode[fo. i, verso~] and the Psali of the Lord Jesus. After that the Sons ofAbba Makari say a Psali of the Virgin. Then the Sons of Abba Johnsay a Psali of our father Abba Makari.

The second Ode which the Sons of Abba Makari (say), and thePsali of the Lord Jesus.

Then the Sons of Ab[/<?. 2, rerto]ba. John say a Psali of the Virgin,and the Sons of Abba Makari say a Psali of Abba John.

Then the beginning of the Theotokia which the Sons of Abba John(say), and the Psali of the Virgin.

After them the Sons of Abba Makari, and a Psali of the Virgin.After them the Sons of Abba John say a Psali [fo. 2, verso] of Abba

Makari.Then the Sons of Abba John say the beginning of the third Ode.And the Sons of Abba Makari say the beginning of the fourth (Ode).Then the Sons of Abba Makari say a Psalm, and the Psali of the

Gospel in Abba John and in Abba Makari.D. L. O'LEARY.