Citydesert

Three new books for The Hermitage Library:

Lois M. Farag (Ed) “The Coptic Christian Heritage. History Faith and Culture” (Routledge, 2013)
“This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the heritage of Coptic Christians. The contributors combine academic expertise with intimate and practical knowledge of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Coptic heritage. The chapters explore historical, cultural, literary and material aspects, including: the history of Christianity in Egypt, from the pre-Christian era to the modern day Coptic religious culture: theology, monasticism, spirituality, liturgy and music the Coptic language, linguistic expressions of the Coptic heritage and literary production in Greek, Coptic and Arabic . material culture and artistic expression of the Copts: from icons, mosaics and frescos to manuscript illuminations, woodwork and textiles. Students will find The Coptic Christian Heritage an invaluable introduction, whilst scholars will find its breadth provides a helpful context for specialised research.”

Gawdat Gabra and Gertrud van Loon “The Churches of Egypt. From the Journey of the Holy Family to the Present Day” (The American University in Cairo Press, 2012)
“A stunning visual tour of Egypt’s churches. With over 300 full-color photographs, this is the first fully illustrated book devoted to Christian houses of worship in Egypt. The text incorporates the latest research to complement the broad geographic scope covering nearly all significant Coptic sites throughout the country, from the ancient Coptic churches in Old Cairo to the churches in the monasteries of Wadi al-Natrun, the Red Sea, and Upper Egypt. Churches associated with the Holy Family’s sojourn in Egypt, including Gabal al-Tayr and Dayr al-Muharraq, enrich the volume. Churches of all other Christian denominations in Egypt are also described and beautifully illustrated here. A number of Greek Orthodox churches, Evangelical Coptic, Catholic, Armenian, and Anglican churches are included. Introductory chapters on the history of Christianity in Egypt, the architecture of the Coptic Church, and Coptic wall paintings help readers to appreciate fully the great cultural, artistic, and architectural heritage of Egypt’s Christians.”

Gawdat Gabra (Ed) “Coptic Civilization. Two Thousand Years of Christianity in Egypt” (The American University in Cairo Press, 2014)
“A comprehensive cultural history of the Copts and their rich contributions of literature, art and architecture, material arts, and music. Egypt’s Copts make up one of the oldest and largest Christian communities in the Middle East. Yet despite the availability of a large number of books on aspects of Coptic culture, including art and architecture, monasticism, theology, and music, there is to date no single volume that provides a comprehensive cultural history of the Copts and their achievements. Coptic Civilization aims to fill this gap, by introducing the general reader, the interested non-specialist, to Coptic culture in all its variety and multi-faceted richness. With contributions by twenty scholars, Coptic Civilization includes chapters on monasticism, the Coptic language, Coptic literature, Christian Arabic literature, the objects and documents of daily life, magic, art and architecture, and textiles, as well as the history of the Coptic Church, its liturgy, theology, and music. Contributors: Dominique Bénazeth, Lois Farag, Cäcilia Fluck , Peter Grossmann, Gisele Helmecke, Magdalena Kuhn, Marvin Meyer, Samuel Moawad, Elisabeth R. O’Connell, Monica René , Tonio Sebastian Richter, Saad Michael Saad, Mark Sheridan, Mark N. Swanson, Hany N. Takla , Jacques van der Vliet, Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Gertrud J.M. van Loon, Youhanna Nessim Youssef, Ewa D. Zakrzewska Includes chapters on Coptic Historiography • Church History • Monasticism • Alexandrian Theology • Liturgy • Music • The Coptic Language • Gnosticism and Manichaeism • The Coptic Bible • Coptic Literature • Documentary Evidence of Daily Life • Magic • Copto-Arabic Literature • Archaeology • Architecture • Church Decoration • Objects of Daily Life • Post-pharaonic Textiles • The Coptic Church Today • Contemporary Coptic Art • Coptic Civilization in the Diaspora.”

Some time ago I announced my intention to begin a new blog – DesertLiturgy http://desertliturgy.wordpress.com/ – intended to encourage and facilitate the study and appreciation of the Christian Liturgies of the Desert, specifically those of Egypt and the Middle East. It would seek to provide:

• Notices and reviews of publications (both new and old) in the field;
• References to on-line resources;
• References to and commentaries on liturgical and ritual texts;
• Unpublished or out-of-copyright scholarly material;
• Notices of conferences, seminars and other opportunities for scholarly discussion;
• Photographs relating to liturgy (especially old and otherwise unpublished material);
• References to audio and video recordings of liturgies and liturgical music;
• Discussion of liturgical questions and topics.

Alas, pressure of other commitments has delayed this project. I hope to begin again in the middle of the year. Any suggestions/contributions will be gratefully received.

Meanwhile, two of my own liturgical writings are currently available:

“The Fraction in The Coptic Orthodox Liturgy”
“The Glastonbury Review” No. 101 (December 1999)
http://britishorthodox.org/miscellaneous/the-fraction-in-the-coptic-orthodox-liturgy/

“The Offering of The Morning and Evening Incense”, 3rd edition, with an introductory essay by Father Gregory Tillett. British Orthodox Press, 2014. Available at http://www.lulu.com/shop/abba-seraphim-editor/morning-evening-incense/hardcover/product-21632580.html
ISBN 978-1-291-82911-2 The introductory essay is not, alas, available on line as yet.

“For heaven was then utterly inaccessible to mortal man, and no flesh as yet had ever trodden that pure and all-holy realm of the angels; but Christ was the first Who consecrated for us the means of access to Himself, and granted to flesh a way of entrance into heaven; presenting Himself as an offering to God the Father, as it were the firstfruits of them that are asleep and are lying in the tomb, and the first of mankind that ever appeared in heaven.

Therefore also it was that the angels in heaven, knowing nothing of the august and stupendous mystery of the Incarnation, were astonished in wonder at His coming, and exclaim almost in perplexity at the strange and unusual event: Who is this that cometh from Edom? that is, from the earth. But the Spirit did not leave the host above uninstructed in the marvellous wisdom of God the Father, but bade them rather open the heavenly gates in honour to the King and Master of all, proclaiming: Lift up the gates, O ye princes, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Therefore our Lord Jesus the Christ consecrated for us a new and living way, as Paul says; not having entered into a holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us. For it is not that He may present Himself before the presence of God the Father that Christ has ascended up on high: for He ever was and is and will be continually in the Father, in the sight of Him Who begat Him, for He it is in Whom the Father ever takes delight: but now He Who of old was the Word with no part or lot in human nature, has ascended in human form that He may appear in heaven in a strange and unwonted manner.

And this He has done on our account and for our sakes, in order that He, though found as a man, may still in His absolute power as Son, while yet in human form, obey the command: Sit Thou on My right hand, and so may transfer the glory of adoption through Himself to all the race. For in that He has appeared in human form He is still one of us as He sits at the right hand of God the Father, even though He is far above all creation; and He is also Consubstantial with His Father, in that He has come forth from Him as truly God of God and Light of Light. He has presented Himself therefore as Man to the Father on our behalf, that so He may restore us, who had been removed from the Father’s presence by the ancient transgression, again as it were to behold the Father’s face. He sits there in His position as Son, that so also we through Him may be called sons and children of God.”

St. Cyril: “Commentary on the Gospel of St. John” Book 9:236-237

“Asceticism, contrary to common misconception, does not require viewing the body as evil. Quite the opposite, in fact. Though ancient Christian ascetics have many negative things to say about the life of the body, the true meaning of asceticism is about exercise. It is about how we use our bodies to train our souls. In this sense, the ascetic perspective views the body with the highest dignity. Even the body ought not to be merely carnal; it was made to be spiritualized. In this way both soul and body are transformed through Christian asceticism, being ever conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The ascetic life is about learning to say no to ourselves and yes to God. Popular culture tends to advocate the opposite: “you’ve earned it”; “have it your way”—our world is full of pressure to live for ourselves and for the fleeting things in this life. However, one of the things that is most human about us is our ability to transcend our passions (emotional habits) and live beyond our own self-centered concerns. In order to do that, however, we need to cultivate an entirely different way of life. And for those of us living “in the world,” that means an everyday asceticism. We are capable, by God’s grace, of living intentionally righteous lives, and in so doing we find all that is truly fulfilling. Or, to put it better: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).”

From a very interesting blog with the excellent name:
Everyday Asceticism. Living in the world. Longing for the desert.

About

“The goal of this site is to translate ancient Christian reflections on the spiritual life, usually from the “Sayings of the Desert Fathers”, into our modern, 21st century context. In a word, to bring the desert to the world.

Ancient Christian spiritual texts are generally written by monks for monks. There is nothing wrong with this, but translating it from their context to our own can be difficult. This blog is as much my own effort to reflect and process this ancient wisdom as it is to help others relate to it as well. It does not claim to reflect the teaching of any church in particular, though the author writes from the perspective of his own tradition.”

“It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion–its message becomes meaningless.”

Abraham Herschel

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907 –1972) was a Polish-born American Rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century.

Green Renaissance – http://www.greenrenaissance.co.za/ – categorised this under “Necessity and Simplicity”

“A short documentary about David Welsford, who has given up the luxuries of land in search for happiness and adventure on a 50 year old wooden boat he restored from a scrap heap. David’s ability to live just with what he needs is an inspiring disposition. In some aspects of our lives, we can all apply necessity and simplicity. Sometimes we’re surprised by how much we need it.”
http://www.greenrenaissance.co.za/blog/necessity-and-simplicity

“In today’s culture, success is intrinsically linked with busyness. Stress is equated with status, material objects a sign of purpose. Yet, when I get caught up in my own personal neuroses, biting my fingernails to nubs over all the stuff I have to do, I often harbor a secret little fantasy: what if I just stopped? What if I quit…ditched all my stuff and jetted off to the Caribbean. It’d be just sand, cerulean waters, and my wife by my side. Wouldn’t that be easier? Wouldn’t my life be better?
Well, director Kevin A. Fraser has captured my impulsive, Kerouacian wish in documentary form with Twenty Eight Feet—a profile of David Welsford, a young man who exited the grind in search of paradise. He found it in the form of an old sailboat.
This is a simple film, with a simple message: go out and live life…do what makes you happy. Yeah, it’s a maxim we’ve heard time and time again, but how often do we see people actually do it? It’s one thing to like a generic motivational post on facebook, quite another to abandon comfort and convention and live on the sea. To use a cliché, over the film’s entrancing 8 minutes, we watch as Welsford “lives the dream.” Essentially, Twenty Eight Feet is adult wish fulfillment—proof that “crazy” is possible (and potentially life-affirming).”
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/05/20/twenty-eight-feet/

For David’s website: http://www.twentyeightfeet.com/

For the film:

“The true contemplative is not less interested than others in normal life, not less concerned with what goes on in the world, but more interested, more concerned. The fact that he or she is a contemplative makes them capable of a greater interest and a deeper concern. The contemplative has the inestimable gift of appreciating at their real worth values that are permanent, authentically deep, human. truly spiritual and even divine. Their mission is to be a complete and whole person, with an instinctive and generous need to further the same wholeness in others, and in all humanity. They arrive at this, however, not by superior gifts and talents, but by the simplicity and poverty which are essential to their state because these alone keep one traveling in the way that is spiritual, divine and beyond understanding.”

Thomas Merton “The Sign of Jonas”, Harcourt, Bruce & Co., N.Y., 1953, p. 69 – quoted at http://www.thomasmertonsociety.org/conner.htm

May 29 is the Commemoration of Votus, Felix and John, Hermits of the Pyrenees Mountains

“Hermits in the Pyrenees Mountains. Votus and Felix were brothers from Saragossa, Spain, who gave up all worldly interests and embraced the eremitical life. Upon going to the Pyrenees, they became companions of John. Their place of seclusion, beneath a rock (called a pena) became the site of the Benedictine abbey of St. John de Ia Pena.”
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1873

“Votus and Felix were brothers from Saragossa in Spain who found a hermitage in the Pyrenees which was already inhabited by John (John de Atares). The three lived together and reposed at about the same time. The hermitage was situated beneath a huge rock (Peña) where the monastery of St John de la Peña later grew up. This is famous in Spanish history, since the monastery became the cradle of the Kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_29_%28Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics%29

“The monastery of San Juan de la Peña is a religious complex in the town of Santa Cruz de la Serós, at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the great cliff that overhangs the foundation. San Juan de la Peña means “Saint John of the Cliff”.
The lower church includes some mozarabic architectural surviving elements, although most of the parts of the monastery (including the impressive cloister, under the great rock) are Romanesque. After the fire of 1675, a new monastery was built. The old monastery (built in 920) was declared National Monument on 13 July 1889, and the new monastery in 1923. In the 11th century the monastery became part of the Benedictine Order and was the first monastery in Spain to use the Latin Mass.
The cloister, built ca. 1190, contains a series of capitals with Biblical scenes that originally were arranged in chronological sequence, a design found elsewhere in the region.
The monastery is built beneath a huge rock sometimes associated with the legendary “Monte Pano”. The second floor contains a royal pantheon of kings of Aragon and Navarre. The present room, with its marbles and stucco medallions recalling historic battles, is mainly a design built during the administration of Charles III of Spain in 1770. It contains the resting places of the following kings of Aragón: Ramiro I, Sancho Ramírez, and Peter I of Aragon and Navarre
Legend said that the chalice of the Last Supper (Holy Grail) was sent to the monastery for protection and prevention from being captured by the Muslim invaders of the Iberian Peninsula.
The monastery is the namesake of the Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña, which was partially researched and composed there.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_de_la_Pe%C3%B1a

“It has the legend, a young noble named Vote ( in some versions, Oto), came from hunting in these parts when they spotted a deer. The Hunter ran after the dam, but it was elusive and upon arrival at Mount Pano, plunged off the cliff. Miraculously, his horse fell on soft ground. Safely in the bottom of the ravine, he saw a small cave in the he found a hermitage dedicated to San Juan Bautista and in the interior, found the body of a hermit named John to tie. Shocked by the discovery, went to Zaragoza, sold all his property and he and his brother Felix retired to the cave, and began a life as a hermit.
This was the beginning of the monastery from which Miguel de Unamuno wrote: “… The mouth of a spiritual world of rocks covered with a forest of legend, in which the Benedictine monks, half hermit, half warriors, would spend the winter, while trampling the snow boar meat and bone, came out of the woods, bears , wolves and other wildlife.””

Building in harmony with nature

See further http://www.monasteriosanjuan.com/monasterio-san-juan-de-la-pena.php?L=en

May 28 is the Commemoration of the Departure of Saint Ammonius (Ammonas, Amoun), the Hermit.

“Ammonas (Greek: Ἀμμώνας), Amoun (Ἀμοῦν), or Ammonius the Hermit was a 4th-century Christian ascetic and the founder of one of the most celebrated monastic communities in Egypt. Pushed into marriage by his family, he managed to persuade his bride to take a vow of chastity together with him by the authority of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians. They lived together this way for 18 years, when at her wish, they parted, and he retired to Scetis and Mt. Nitria, to the south of Lake Mareotis, where he lived 22 years, visiting his sister-wife twice a year.

He died before St. Anthony the Great from whom there is an epistle to him. that is, before the year 365, for the latter asserted that he “saw the soul of Amoun borne by angels to heaven”, and as St. Athanasius’s history of St. Antony preserves the order of time, he died perhaps about 320. There are generally seventeen or nineteen “Rules of Asceticism” (κεφάλαια) ascribed to him; the Greek original exists in manuscript; they were published in the Latin version of Gerardus Vossius. “Twenty-two Ascetic Institutions” of the same Amoun, or one bearing the same name, exist also in manuscript. There is a collection of his letters in the Patrologia Orientalis, volume 10/6.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonas

“On this day, of the year 73 A.M. (357 A.D.), the holy father Abba Ammonius departed. He was born in 294 A.D., in a village near Mariot. He was, as St. Antony was, born to a righteous and rich Christian family. He lost his parents while he was young and became under the guardianship of his uncle. He longed for the life of purity, chastity, and holiness. Nevertheless, his uncle forced him to be engaged to a rich girl against his will. Since he could not disobey his uncle, he talked to his bride to be, with a spiritual dialogue and through his holy life, he was able to have a good influence on her. He made her long to the life of purity and planted in her heart the desire to consecrate her self a bride for the True Bridegroom Jesus Christ. Thus they decided to accept the marriage but decided to live as a brother and sister. They remained like this for seventeen years, keeping themselves pure and chaste, after which his wife departed to the eternal bliss.

Abba Ammonius, Egyptian ascetic, forced to wed, agrees with his bride to live in celibacy and virginity (from Wynkyn de Worde’s 1495 edition of “Vitas patrum”) Date: 285 – 320

The Saint saw in a vision St. Antonios calling him to put on the monastic garb. When he woke from his sleep, he rose up and went to St. Isidore, who put on him the holy Eskeem. He dwelt with him for some time, after which he went to mount Tounah, where was St. Antonios.

St. Ammonius remained with St. Antonios for a while and became his disciple, and studied on his hands the cannons of the holy monasticism. He built for himself a cell in mount Tounah. He fervently worshipped God there, and the devil envied him. He came to him in the form of a nun and knocked his door. When he opened and asked the devil to pray with him, the devil became like a flame of fire. Then the devil went and dwelt in a woman and moved her to entice the Saint to fall in sin with her. She wore the best of her clothing and came to him at dusk, and knocked the door of his cell, saying: “I am a traveling woman, and I had lost my way, and it is dark now. Please do not let me stay outside lest the wild beasts kill me, and you become responsible for my blood.” When he opened the door and knew the snare of the devil who sent her, he started to preach her and put the fear in her heart of the tortures of hell which is awaiting the sinners, and indicated to her the delight and the bliss which is awaiting the righteous. God opened her heart, and she understood what he said to her. She knelt to his feet weeping and asked him to accept her and assist her in saving her soul. She took off her apparel and he put on her a sackcloth of hair. He cut off her hair and called her “The simple minded or the naive”. He taught her the way to righteousness and she excelled through many prayers and fasting, and surpassed many saints by her fasting and perpetual prayers.
The devil tried to snare him again. This time in the form of a monk who went around in the monasteries weeping and saying: “Abba Ammonius the hermit had married and he kept the woman with him in his cell. He had put the monks to shame and disgraced the monastic garb.” When Abba Apollo (Ebelo), who was like the angels, heard of that, he took with him Abba Yousab and Abba Nohi (Bohi), and came to mount Tounah to the cell of Abba Ammonius. They knocked on the door of the cell, and when she opened to them they realized the matter. They entered and prayed together as the custom and sat to talk about the greatness of God. At the end of the day, Abba Ammonius told them, let us go to see the “Naive” for she was baking some bread. When they went out to where she was, they saw her standing in the midst of a great fire, and her hands were stretched out towards heaven praying. They marvelled exceedingly and glorified God. After they had eaten the bread, everyone went separately to sleep and the angel of the Lord revealed the story of the “Naive” with St. Ammonius to Abba Apollo, and that God brought them there to be present at the time of her departure. About the third hour of the night, she became sick with fever. She knelt down and delivered up her soul at the hand of the Lord. They swathed her, and after praying over her, they buried her. Then Abba Ammonius told them about her virtues, and that for the eighteen years that she stayed with him, she never raised her face to look at him, and that her food was bread and salt. After this, St. Antonios sent him to El-Natroun valley to establish there new monasteries, and many believers followed him. He organized for them their livelihood and directed them with excellence. Soon after, this holy father departed in peace.”
http://st-takla.org/zJ/index.php/component/katamaros/?sm=0-2&c=&iday=28&imonth=5&iyear=2011&dbl=en&task=synax_today

Sayings of Saint Ammonas:

• Abba Ammonas said “Go, make your thoughts like those of the evildoers who are in prison. For they are always asking when the magistrate will come, awaiting him in anxiety. Even so the monk ought to give himself at all times to accusing his own soul, saying, ‘Unhappy wretch that I am. How shall I stand before the judgement seat of Christ? What shall I say in my defence?’ If you give yourself continually to this, you may be saved.”

• “I have spent fourteen years in Scetis asking God night and day to grant me the victory over anger.”

• Abba Ammonas was going to pay a visit to Abba Anthony one day, and he lost his way. So sitting down, he fell asleep for a little while. On waking, he prayed thus to God, “I beseech you, O Lord my God, do not let your creature perish.” Then there appeared to him as it were a man’s hand in the heavens, which showed him the way, till he reached Abba Anthony’s cave.

• Abba Ammonas came one day to eat in a place where there was a monk of evil repute. Now it happened that a woman came and entered the cell of the brother of evil reputation. The dwellers in that place, having learnt this, were troubled and gathered together to chase the brother from his cell. Knowing that Bishop Ammonas was in the place, they asked him to join them. When the brother in question learnt this, he hid the woman in a large cask. The crowd of monks came to the place. Now Abba Ammonas saw the position clearly but for the sake of God he kept the secret; he entered, seated himself on the cask and commanded the cell to be searched. Then when the monks had searched everywhere without finding the woman, Abba Ammonas said, “What is this? May God forgive you!” After praying, he made everyone go out, then taking the brother by the hand he said, “Brother, be on your guard.” With these words, he withdrew.

• Abba Ammonas was asked, “What is the ‘narrow and hard way?’” (Matthew 7:14). He replied, “The ‘narrow and hard way’ is this, to control your thoughts, and to strip yourself of your own will, for the sake of God. This is also the meaning of the sentence, ‘Lo, we have left everything and followed you.’” (Matthew 19:27)
http://www.pantanassamonastery.org/sayings-by-abba-ammonas.html

See also http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cce/id/118

Ammonas (Author), D.J. Chitty (Translator) “Letters of Ammonas Successor of Saint Anthony” (Fairacres Publications – Cistercian Publications, 1988)

Bernadette McNary-Zak, Nada Conic, Brother Lawrence Morey OCSO et al “Useful Servanthood: A Study of Spiritual Formation in the Writings of Abba Ammonas” (Cistercian Studies, 2010)

May 27 is the Commemoration of the Departure of Abba Isaac, the Priest of El-Qalali (Cells).

“On this day, the church commemorates the holy father Abba Isaac, the priest of El-Qalali (Cells). He was born in an Egyptian village from poor parents, but he was rich in his righteous works. He took the opportunity of the presence of the elders of the monks in the village to sell the works of their hands, and followed them to the wilderness. He served them under the yoke of obedience. When he became a monk, he excelled in asceticism and worship to the point that he never possessed two garments at the same time. They asked him once: “Why don’t you possess two garments?” He answered: “Because when I was in the world before being a monk, I did not have two garments at the same time.”
He wept very often during his prayers, and he mixed his bread with the ashes of the censer and ate it. Once he became sick of a grievous sickness, and some of the brethren brought him food, but he did not eat it. One of the brethren described to him the benefits of food and urged him again to eat some of it. He insisted on not eating anything of it, and said to him: “Believe me my brother that I desire to remain sick for thirty years.”
When he became seasoned and everyone heard about his virtues, the fathers by consensus decided to ordain him a priest. He fled and disappeared among the fields. When they were looking for him, they passed by the field, where he was hiding in and sat to rest. They had with them a donkey, which went into the field and stood where the father was. When they went after the donkey to catch it, they found him, and they wanted to bind him so that he could not escape again. He said to them: “I will not escape now, for I know that this is the will of God.” He went with them, and they ordained him a priest, and he increased in obedience to the elders and in teaching the beginners the virtues. When the time of his departure drew near, they asked him: “What can we do after you leave us?” He told them: “Do exactly as you have seen me do, if you wish to steadfast in the wilderness”, then he departed in peace.”
http://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/9_19.html